Chuck vs a Blonde Leia, an Angry Jayne, & NOT Tricia Helfer
by P.J. Murphy
Summary: The team heads to Comic Con to stop Clyde Decker from handing off vital information. While there, Sarah is acosted by a bunch of working Leia's, Casey disrupts a Firefly reunion, and Alex Forrest is mistaken for a Comic Con legend. Includes to ep 4.24
1. Most Missions Go Like That

_Hello. I have to be honest; I didn't think of this story until a few days ago. And the way parts of it are written, that will become obvious very quickly. But since this is likely to be the final appearance of the show Chuck at Comic Con, I guess I just couldn't let it go without having some sort of mission where the team heads to San Diego. Anybody who's been there knows the cast of Chuck is a fan favorite there (I'm sure most of you have YouTubed the video of Zachary Levi imitating Yvonne Strahovski's Australian accent or Joshua Gomez 'not awesome' imitation of Ryan McPartlin.) But the idea came to me to have things go a little crazy for the Chuck crew as the sci-fi, comic book, TV, and movie worlds descended on Comic Con._

_For the purposes of this story, I have to set up the universe a bit. This will mainly follow the canon of the show through the end of Season 4 with one or two guesses as to how Season 5 went. However, in order to incorporate a few elements into the story, I borrowed a bit from the Jimmy Slade AU I created in my stories. Therefore, Agent Alex Forrest and Agent Jimmy Slade will be joining the fun. (Based on title, you can guess what kind of trouble Alex will be in.) They are together and in love with each other, but he is sans Intersect. I have a personal rule about only one person with an up-to-date Intersect. For this story, I'll follow Chuck writers and give it to Morgan._

_Anyway, enough with the author notes, other than to thank BDaddyDL for telling me this is a good idea, and I hope you review the story and let me know if it is indeed a good idea. If not, you can say that, too._

_Enjoy!_

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><p><em><strong>Nashville, TN<br>July 17, 2011  
>2:30 AM CDT<strong>_

Jay Roberts was one to appreciate a good irony. Unless of course it only reminded him of how bad things were.

He was a comic book fanatic who lived in his parents' basement. However, it wasn't his choice. He was laid off from his job as a computer programmer ten months ago, and he hadn't found any work since. To make matters worse, his parents wouldn't let him move his extensive comic book and action figure collection in with him when he could no longer afford his two-bedroom apartment, so it sat in a storage facility two miles away. He snuck his _Battlestar Galactica_ DVDs in to keep him going, and his parents gave a concession regarding his TiVo. After all, they already had satellite TV and high-speed internet, so it wasn't as if Jay's nocturnal activities would cost them anything.

Jay typed away at the computer, watching his program track down the correct IP addresses to the server he was attempting to access. He joined Hackers United more for his own psychological well-being rather than following any sort of manifesto to take down anything and everything government or corporate-related. After six years on the job, he was let go along with two hundred of his fellow workers without so much as a by-your-leave from his bosses. What little money he had saved up disappeared quickly, and he was forced to move back in with his parents. He kept looking for a job because he wanted to get out from under them. He didn't need to hear yet another 'request' by them to make some money by selling his comic book and action figure collection. Besides, he planned to get rid of some of it next weekend in San Diego anyway. His friend, Brodie, had already promised to drive them; Jay just had to help pay for the gas. It was worth it to get away from his parents for a few days. He hoped the part of his collection he could part with would fetch enough money to pay for the trip and keep him afloat for a few weeks.

His computer beeped; he found what he was looking for. A slight smile came to his face as he downloaded the file. The file wasn't as important as its source: the NSA. He considered this quite the feather in his cap to have hacked into one of their servers. Granted, he knew a few people who had hacked systems far more secure, but at least now he had something to brag about. Maybe it would even be enough to impress that cute brunette who tried, unsuccessfully, to cultivate the Goth look she had since high school. But Jay didn't judge; he was no Ryan Reynolds himself, and Libby was a really cool person.

He stood up and stretched. He needed to walk around a bit after spending five hours in front of his computer. He walked upstairs to the kitchen for his fourth Red Bull of the evening. The back door burst open, and several large, intimidating men wearing full combat gear and balaclavas on their heads streamed through the door. One of them took the butt of his automatic weapon and smashed it in Jay's face. He promptly fell to the ground and found himself bound at his wrists and ankles. Two others carried him out of the house and into a waiting van while a fourth man emerged from the basement with Jay's laptop.

The van sped away into the night.

_**Echo Park  
>July 18, 2011<br>8:00 AM PDT**_

The hot water stinging his body felt so good.

Chuck Bartowski yawned and stood as the water hit him. He never expected this to be so difficult. At this point, the $877 million Sarah and he received from Hartley Winterbottom was just a number. Right now, he was busy almost every waking moment rebuilding Castle and making sure the Buy More didn't implode. He never gave consideration to the corporate structure behind the Buy More that took care of the books and made sure the merchandise got to the store. He used to be content to take care of his little corner of store.

Now every corner of the store belonged to him. He WAS corporate.

Chuck sighed. He had to interview several accounting firms today to have bids submitted to handle the books, and he also had to meet with an appliance distributor today who was trying to raise freight charges. He then had servers being installed in Castle that required his personal supervision.

And the person pressing her soft, warm flesh against his at that moment was making him lose his concentration. Damn that gorgeous woman, anyway.

Chuck turned around to see his wife with her hair pinned up and a smile on her face.

"Good morning," Sarah Bartowski quietly cooed. "How are you doing?" She didn't bother waiting for an answer as she gave him an ardent kiss.

"Mmmm," Chuck moaned into her mouth. "Now I totally forgot everything I was supposed to do today. I hate when you do that."

"But 'Shower Together Mondays' was your idea," she pouted. "Didn't you say it always helps if you start the week on a positive note?"

Chuck nodded. "I did, you're right." He returned her kiss and planted a few more on her neck. Sarah reached for a sponge and lathered it up. She handed it to Chuck, who dutifully…and quite happily…ran it all over her body.

"How do you do that?" Sarah asked in astonishment.

"What?"

"You must have seen me naked hundreds of times now, we've been married for three months, and you still have this 'kid in a candy store' look every time you see me."

"Well, I think the whole naked thing might be part of it. I mean, seriously, have you seen you? If I looked like that, I'd be borderline narcissistic."

Sarah shook her head as she took the sponge and started rubbing it all over Chuck. "You do that every time you see me. When we wake up in the morning, when we're out at dinner, even when we're working. How have you managed to have that same look in your eyes for four years?"

Chuck smiled abashedly. "Ellie asked me once how we were able to keep our relationship going like that. Ironically, it was when our relationship was a cover. I just told her I act like I have to win you over every single day. I guess I'm still doing that."

Sarah caressed his cheek. "But you did win me over. I never wanted to be with someone more in my entire life. I'm not going anywhere."

Chuck took the handheld shower head and ran it over them. Sarah sighed contentedly and pressed up against Chuck, wrapping her arms around his neck so he had full access.

Chuck gave her a kiss behind her ear. "I know, but I don't want to stop trying. I get this feeling the minute people stop doing that, that's when you have problems."

Sarah paused for a moment. "I've heard that before. Jimmy mentioned something like that."

"Wait, you talked with them recently? I haven't heard from Jimmy or Alex since the wedding."

"No, this was last year in Las Vegas. We talked about how things had changed for us and he mentioned that he never saw us take each other for granted. I think it's like you said; you keep working at it and you can make it last."

Chuck smiled and held her tightly. They shared a passionate kiss. "OK, then we will let each other know if there's a problem. Communication is supposed to be the key to a good marriage, right? Sarah?"

Sarah shook her head clear. "It's a little hard to talk about serious matters when you're poking me in my stomach.

Chuck looked down and his eyes widened. He quickly stepped back. "Sorry."

Sarah grabbed his ass and pulled him forcefully back to her. She gave him a heated kiss, her tongue hungrily tasting his. "I didn't say for you to back away, either. Wow. I guess we do need to work on our communication."

Chuck playfully growled and lifted her up in his arms. He planted hot kisses along her neck. She moaned and wrapped her legs around him. She slid her hand between them.

"Can you guess what I'm trying to communicate now?" Sarah purred lustfully.

"The benefits of Shower Together Mondays," Chuck said with a smile as they continued to kiss.

_**Castle Underground Facility  
>July 18, 2011<br>8:15 AM PDT**_

"Oooh, that feels so good."

John Casey ran his hands over the smooth surface. He had to admit it; he was completely turned on. He gazed at her hardened form. He never saw one this perfect before. And she wanted him. He just had that feeling.

"You like it when you're all oiled up, don't you."

He looked over every inch of her like a starving man would look over a porterhouse steak at Peter Luger's. Casey was embarrassed to actually be drooling a bit.

"Let me slide this in you."

Casey buried it all the way to the hilt. He caressed her one final time and gave her a little kiss. It was OK; nobody was watching.

"Ready?" he whispered. She was ready.

He took aim and fired his new Sig Sauer P229 Enhanced Elite pistol at the paper target forty yards away in Castle's new shooting range, once again thankful Sarah overruled Chuck when it came to rebuilding the facility.

He wasn't out of a job for long. When Chuck came to him with plans to keep Castle and the Buy More cover thanks to Hartley's generous donation, he was more than happy to stay with the team and help to bring down Clyde Decker. Even though Chuck's Intersect wasn't working, much of what he did in the last year was because of him, not the computer that sent Casey to Burbank in the first place.

Although continuing his cover as one of the Buy Morons was not exactly what he was hoping for.

He thought he had a little more pull with the new boss. But Chuck was going to have a hard time setting up a management structure that would also help maintain the store as a cover without government resources, and Casey was still instrumental in helping Morgan and Big Mike keep that unvarnished lot in place. Given everything Chuck and Sarah did for him over the last four years, both as partners and as friends, he could live with putting the fear of God into Jeff and Lester a bit longer.

He fired the last shot at the target, safetied his weapon, and activated the slide to return the paper target. He smiled; nothing but 10s. He replaced the target and sent it fifty yards away. He put a fresh magazine in the gun.

"Hey, big guy."

Casey turned and growled when he saw Morgan Grimes standing behind him. He pulled off his safety glasses and ear protection.

"Why are you here so early?"

"Well, Chuck told me he had a lot of meetings today and he wanted me to make sure I got here early so everything was ready on time. Also I dropped Alex off at USC so she could pay her fees for the fall semester."

"Nice of you," Casey muttered.

"Well, she made me breakfast, and…"

Casey's eyes flared. "Reminding me that you're dating my daughter is never a good idea when I'm playing with my new toy," he growled.

"Oh, come on, Case," Morgan angrily replied. "I've been going out with her for eight months. Have I been anything less than a complete gentleman around her? Think of all the creeps who could have been dating her."

"Getting rid of one of them would require far less paperwork than getting rid of an agent."

"Look, the more you try to scare away her potential suitors, the more determined she'll be to find one you hate even more just to spite you. Do you really want that kind of aggravation?"

Casey grunted in frustration. He hated when anybody was right and he was wrong, particularly the bearded troll.

"Don't forget her birthday is next week. Her present better be a good one," Casey said with a threatening glance.

"Already set on that, big guy," Morgan beamed.

"And it better not be anything involving a homemade coupon."

The smile on Morgan's face disappeared instantly. "I'll work on it."

Casey was about to make quick work of another paper target when the main computer at the desk beeped. Morgan walked over to it and checked the message.

"It says _'Dinner party, 0000L, invite the Smiths'_."

"Beckman needs to conference with us," Casey replied. "Midnight Langley time, so she must be keeping it off the books. 9:00 PM tonight, our time."

"Who are the Smiths? Ellie and Awesome?"

"No, Agents Forrest and Slade. Beckman has them flagged in the system where they can work directly for her whenever she wants. This must be important if she wants their help, too."

Morgan was confused for a moment until it clicked in. "Oh, the Smiths. Like, from that spy movie. Sweet. But then, what are Ellie's and Devon's code names?"

"Carol and Mike," Casey replied matter-of-factly.

"No way." Morgan broke up laughing. "So, what's mine?"

Casey shot him a look. "You don't want to know."

"Oh, come on. Tell me. Is it bad? What am I? Robin? Kato? Ooh, Inigo Montoya would be so epic!"

Casey gave a combination grunt-and-laugh. "You wish it wasn't that bad."

"Oh, just tell me. Please?" Morgan begged like a puppy jumping up for a treat.

Casey checked his watch. "Better go open the store. The employees should be there any minute."

Morgan checked his watch and huffed. "This is so not over," he said angrily as he bounded up the stairs to the Buy More. Casey gave a quiet chuckle as he sent a text message to Alex Forrest and Jimmy Slade.

_**Unknown Location  
>July 17, 2011<br>7:00 PM**_

Jay Roberts looked around the empty room. He was handcuffed to the chair he was sitting in. He didn't have a blindfold on, but he may as well have for all he could see in the room. There was a single light over his head which did not reveal anything else about the room. However, he could tell there were others in the room by their breathing.

"Who are you? What's going on?"

"You've been a very, very bad boy, Mr. Roberts," a voice called out from the dark. "And a very stupid one. Did you honestly think you achieved some great accomplishment by what you did?"

Jay thought for a moment. Bluffing worked in the movies sometimes. "You should know the file I stole from you is on its way to someone who knows what to do with it."

He got laughter in return. So much for bluffing.

"Mr. Roberts, the file you stole is a series of briefs from the Bush administration. The first Bush. Just bios on a few techno-geeks who died ten years ago. You would have had a much easier time filing a Freedom of Information claim to get them."

"What are you talking about?"

"You just committed the hackers' equivalent of stealing a police bait car. Only you're not going to do five years in the county lockup. Unless you do something for us."

"Like what?"

"Just pass some data along to someone. You'll like it; you won't even have to change your plans for next weekend."

"What kind of data?"

"Best that you don't know," was the reply, but the room suddenly felt a lot colder to Jay.

"And if I don't?"

A video monitor turned on just ahead of where he was sitting. The area of the room it illuminated did not help Jay identify who was in the room, or even how many.

Not that he was paying attention. The image of his parent's house shook him to his core.

"As you can see, we planned your capture very carefully." Jay watched his parents be injected with some sort of medication. "Your parents probably had the best rest they've had in years. And they woke up in the morning like nothing ever happened, other than an email saying you left early because your friend, Brodie, wanted to make it 'an epic trip, man!'."

The video image changed. Jay saw a hooded man walking near the furnace in his house.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Your parents like their peace and quiet, especially on Saturday nights. It's their movie night at home, isn't it? Well, next Saturday night, if you haven't handed off the data to your contact, the furnace in your basement is going to develop some issues. A backup of gas into the home, a spark ignites somewhere, and another tragic accident in the Heartland."

"You're bluffing!" Jay screamed as he struggled against his handcuffs.

"Are we?" the voice calmly asked.

Jay looked to his left as a light turned on. Seated unconscious in another chair was Brodie.

"What have you done to him?"

"Nothing," the voice replied with an eerie calm. Jay couldn't stop his body from trembling. "Of course, we had to keep Brodie under our close, personal care. After all, if he didn't find you, he'd start calling around and asking questions. That would not be helpful to us.

Jay could sense the man speaking to him was directly behind him. "So, do we have an agreement, or do you need further incentive?"

An arm reached out from the darkness and placed a large, sharp knife at Brodie's throat. Jay sunk in his chair and shook in fear.

_**Madrid, Spain  
>July 18, 2011<br>5:30 PM CEST**_

Enrico Salazar studied the face of the man sitting across from him. It was unreadable, but he had the feeling the man was hiding something. He wasn't sure what it was. Something about this felt too perfect. He had government files a group of Basque separatists would find useful, and the man sitting in front of him could deliver those files…for a fee, naturally. It was exactly what he needed. That's why he was worried.

"For someone who deals with so many different clients, Mr. Murdock, I must say you dress more like you own a multinational corporation," Salazar observed.

Murdock shrugged. "Well, if I was in the jungles of Uganda dealing with a power-mad warlord, I'd dress in khakis and wear breathable long-sleeve shirts to discourage the insects," he replied with an English accent. "For the top floor of the _Torre de Cristal_, I find a tailor-made suit from Anderson & Sheppard on Seville Row in London to be adequate."

"As do I. However, I do not believe you came here to talk about your fashion sense."

Murdock shook his head. "No, I have not." He slid a piece of paper over to Salazar. "There is the wired account where you should transfer the funds. Once I've confirmed the money is there, you hand me the files, and I transfer them to my contacts. They'll communicate with you at a later point to negotiate further…business?"

Salazar nodded. "Very well, Mr. Murdock." He typed some information into his computer and took a bottle of wine out of his refrigerator to celebrate.

Murdock and Salazar were interrupted by a knock on the door. A tall blonde woman in a stunning white flowing dress entered the room and walked…glided, in fact…over to Salazar.

"_Querido_, we must not be late," the woman said to Salzar as she took his face in her hands and kissed him.

"_Un momento, mi amor_," Salazar replied. "I am just finishing business for the day."

"Quickly, darling," the woman said as she ran her hands all over him. Salazar gave her a quick kiss before stepping away from her and back to Murdock. He sat down at the desk and glanced at his computer monitor.

He then glared at Murdock. "I have one last question for you, Mr. Murdock. Whom do you work for?"

Murdock kept his expression unchanged. "What are you talking about?"

"I was a bit suspicious of your accent. If you listen carefully, whenever you say 'the' or 'there', you can hear a faint pronunciation of the letter 'd'. Not something you'd hear from a Londoner. I would guess you are really an American. Midwestern born, probably raised in Chicago."

Salazar turned his monitor to face Murdock. "But the clincher was the account you gave me. The account is from a bank that is a front for laundering Central Intelligence Agency funds."

Murdock shrugged and smiled. "What can I say? The Spanish government doesn't take too well to those who would commit treason and aid a terrorist group."

Salazar's expression turned to red-hot anger. "You will not make a fool of me," he seethed as he reached for his gun.

He heard the sound of his gun being cocked behind him. He turned to see his lover with his gun aimed right at his head. Alex Forrest had a smile on her face.

Jimmy Slade raised an eyebrow. "Oh, did I forget to tell you? I wasn't working alone."

Salazar slowly stood with his hands raised. He then lunged for the bottle of wine and swung it, knocking the gun out of Alex's hand and sending her off-balance. He smashed the wine bottle against the table and pointed the jagged edge at Jimmy. Salazar lunged at him, but Jimmy sidestepped him and grabbed his wrist, smashing the bottle against his knee. He then brought his knee up into Salazar's midsection, who doubled-over. Alex landed a judo chop between his shoulder blades, and Salazar fell the rest of the way to the ground.

Jimmy quickly searched him and found the flash drive with the files. "Did you have to make out with him that much?"

Alex glared at him as they went to the doors. "I was doing my job," she tersely replied.

They opened the doors to find three of Salazar's security agents. Jimmy head-butted the nearest one back while Alex sent an elbow that connected with the face of the second one. She kicked out his knees to collapse him and landed a shot to keep him down. Jimmy finished off the first man with a roundhouse while Alex back-kicked the last one to him. He leaped and took the man out with a butterfly kick.

"Well, could you at least enjoy your job a little less next time?" Jimmy pleaded as they ran down to the elevators.

"Are you actually jealous?"

Suddenly Jimmy was confused. "I thought women wanted their boyfriends to be jealous. I mean not, like, Ike Turner jealous. But I thought a little wounding of the pride went a long way."

"Not with me, it doesn't."

Jimmy rolled his eyes as the elevator opened. "OK, fine. I won't say another word."

"I didn't say that's what I wanted," Alex crossly replied as they got on and headed for the lobby.

"Whoah, wait a minute. First I was wrong for being jealous, and now I'm wrong for promising NOT to be jealous?"

"No! Quit saying things just so you won't piss me off."

"OK, then I don't know what to…"

The elevator opened in the lobby to a half-dozen of Salazar's men. Jimmy grabbed the handrail of the elevator and kicked out hard, knocking two of the men down. Alex landed a jab at a third man and followed it with a roundhouse kick. Jimmy threw a wicked haymaker at a fourth man and took him down with one shot while Alex sent another man down with a brutal hook. The last man tried to pull out his gun, but Alex chopped at his hand as he tried to aim it, and Jimmy knocked him out with a kick to the face.

Jimmy and Alex ran to their waiting car and headed for the airport.

"OK, then what should have been the correct answer?"

Alex exhaled and tried to regain her composure. "Stop thinking about right and wrong answers. I came in and kissed Salazar. What was going through your mind when it happened?"

Jimmy paused for a moment. "I didn't like it, and I felt some jealousy. But I knew you were doing it for your job and it didn't mean a thing to you."

"And why is that?"

"Because we're in love, and we know we can trust each other."

The car pulled up to their private jet. Jimmy got out of the car and handed the keys to a waiting steward. He opened the door for Alex and gave her his hand to help her out of the car. She took it and stood next to him, taking his other hand as well.

"That's the right answer."

Jimmy smiled and gave her a kiss. "I'll get this relationship stuff figured out one day."

Alex wrapped her arms around his neck. "For this being your first time in a relationship, you're actually pretty good." Jimmy gave her a more passionate kiss and started feasting on her neck. "Mmm, especially in certain areas."

They were interrupted by the beeping of their mobile phones. Both of them checked the email message.

"The CIA wants us to go to Burbank?" Alex asked.

Jimmy looked at the same message on his phone. He shook his head. "The email header is from the wrong source. Chuck, Sarah, and Casey want us in Burbank."

Alex walked up the stairs. "Captain, can we be in Los Angeles within twelve hours?"

The captain nodded. "If the weather is on our side, sure."

"Wheels up, then."

"A twelve-hour flight to Los Angeles?" Jimmy asked as he boarded the plane. "What are we going to do all that time?"

Alex grabbed him and kissed him hard. "You really need to ask?"

_**Castle Underground Facility  
>July 18, 2011<br>8:55 PM PDT**_

Morgan descended the stairs into Castle. "OK, Big Mike is locking up the store. Is everybody here who's supposed to be here?"

Chuck and Sarah looked around. "Is Casey still upstairs?" Chuck asked.

Morgan slapped his hand to his forehead hard enough to make Homer Simpson proud. "Ugh, I forgot. How do Jimmy and Alex get down here if…"

"…someone doesn't let them into the store?" a voice called out from the stairwell. Everybody turned to see Casey, Jimmy, and Alex descending into Castle.

Sarah put her hands on her hips. "Three months and not a word from either of you?" she pouted.

"Sorry, kiddo," Jimmy replied as he gave her a hug. "But someone has to still work officially for the CIA. We don't get to sit on a beach earning twenty percent like all of you do."

"Oh, don't even start that," Chuck quietly seethed in annoyance as he gave Jimmy a hug. "We've been working our asses off getting our little company off the ground."

"The place does look different," Alex noted as she gave Chuck and Sarah hugs as well. "A lot more tech than even the wondergeeks in Langley have."

"There's even a new shooting range and gym," Sarah added.

"Wow," Jimmy said in surprise. "No wonder why Casey looks like he finally added some fiber to his diet."

The videoconference computer beeped. Everybody took seats as Morgan punched the code to connect with General Beckman's secure line.

"Team Bartowski, glad you could make it. Agent Forrest, Agent Slade, I gather your mission in Madrid was a success?"

"More or less," Alex replied. "Our communication skills could use a bit of work." Jimmy quietly growled, and Alex pinched his ass out of sight of everybody.

"I have a mission that needs to be handled outside the normal scope of the Agency." A photograph appeared on the screen. "This is Jay Roberts. He's a low-level hacker with suspected ties to the Hackers United group."

Jimmy and Alex turned to Chuck, expecting him to flash. They were surprised when everybody looked towards Morgan. They turned to see Morgan complete a flash.

Jimmy's eyes widened. He pointed back and forth between Chuck and Morgan. "Uh, did I miss something?"

"We'll explain later," Sarah replied.

"Yeah, this Jay guy. Big comic book geek," Morgan said. "Poor guy got laid off ten months ago. But he's got a clean record. Why would he be mixed up with a hacker group like that?"

"We're not sure, Mr. Grimes," Beckman responded. "However, he managed to download a file from an NSA server two nights ago."

"Was the information top secret?" Alex asked.

"No, and that's the first problem. Roberts didn't get any data of major significance, but the server he hacked had a firewall on it, behind which were top secret files from MI-6, French SIS, and the Mossad. There's no way the file Roberts stole would ever be kept on that server."

"Was he set up?" Casey asked.

"If he was, that would be the second problem, as there are no authorized operations going on right now, and Roberts hasn't been seen since."

"Someone is setting him up to be a fall guy," Jimmy concluded.

"Clyde Decker is," Chuck said in a solemn tone. "He must be planning something."

Beckman nodded. "That's why I contacted you and tasked Agents Forrest and Slade to assist. Find Roberts and see if Decker is behind this. If he is, stop whatever he's doing."

The monitor went blank, and everybody started looking at each other.

"OK, let's walk through this," Sarah began. "Decker kidnaps Roberts and forces him to do…what?"

"Half the geeks in Langley have ten times his talent, so it can't be for hacking a computer system," Alex said.

"Maybe to hand off something," Jimmy thought. "If things go south, he's the one who takes the fall."

"Decker doesn't have a need to make money off of this; he's financed by the taxpayers," Casey said. "A power play, then."

Everybody nodded in agreement. "Decker lets some information leak, the government thinks it has a problem, and Decker gets more leash to operate," Alex concluded.

"So now we know the 'what'; we just need the 'when' and 'where'," Sarah said.

Chuck was beginning to worry. "But Decker is using someone who never did this before. Jay might think they'll kill him whether he does what they want or not. How does he deal with that?"

Casey sat back in his chair for a moment. "If I were forcing someone to do something and I couldn't put a gun to their back, I'd make the environment public; some place that would act as familiar surroundings for him. Just to keep him relaxed so he doesn't accidentally spook his contact."

Morgan's eyes lit up. He punched up the picture of Roberts again. "Guys, wait. Look at this picture. See the Green Lantern t-shirt he's wearing? He's got a _Stargate_ and a _BSG_ poster on the wall. He's, like, a total sci-fi and comic geek."

Chuck studied the picture, and a huge smile spread across his face. "And where will there be large crowds of sci-fi and comic fans?"

Sarah shook her head in aggravation. "No…"

Chuck and Morgan nodded and smiled as if they just won the lottery. "We're going to Comic Con."


	2. The Force Is Not With Them

_Hello. Before I started this story, I had asked **BDaddyDL** what he thought of doing a story based on Comic Con. Based on some of the ideas I had in mind, he thought it was an awesome idea. I vowed to keep the story short: less than 12,000 words, no chapter greater than 3,000 words. I'm about to screw up both of those, and I'm barely halfway done with the story. I have to give credit to those authors who can keep people riveted with far fewer words. I honestly don't know how they do it._

_Anyway, thanks again to BDaddyDL for letting me bounce a few ideas off of his head. I'm hoping I can make this story very funny and very entertaining. Please leave a review and let me know if I've done just that. Thanks!_

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><p><em><strong>W Hotel, Los Angeles<br>July 19, 2011  
>7:30 AM PDT<strong>_

Jimmy Slade was out cold in the bed. Given the long day everybody had…Jimmy and Alex had been awake for almost twenty-four hours after flying from Europe…they decided to reconvene in Castle in the morning to work out a strategy for finding Jay Roberts and stopping Decker from whatever it was he had planned at Comic Con. It was a good idea, as Jimmy crawled into their hotel room after the meeting in Castle, showered, and passed right out. He was actually surprised he had any left in the tank to carry their bags up.

He still needed to figure out that whole 'can't sleep on planes' thing.

Alex caught several hours of sleep on the flight from Madrid to Los Angeles, so she was in a much better mood when they landed. Of course, Jimmy did what he could to 'relax' her on the flight, and despite Alex's attempts to return the favor, Jimmy spent the majority of the flight sitting nervously in his seat. He passed the time completing reports, listening to music, and he even managed to read part of a book.

"Wake up, babe."

Alex gently shook him, but Jimmy was dead to the world.

"James?" Alex shook him harder but to no avail. She exhaled in anger, jumped on top of his sleeping form, grabbed his face, and kissed him hard.

That worked a little too well.

Jimmy's eyes shot open in fear, and he reached for the gun underneath his pillow. It took him a few seconds to figure it out. He exhaled in annoyance at himself and gently placed the gun on the nightstand.

"Sorry," he mumbled quietly. "I wasn't expecting that."

Alex smiled and gave him a gentler kiss. "I did try to wake you. Twice. You wouldn't budge, so I had to resort to more…shall we say…direct methods?"

"Kind of a Snow White in reverse. Only instead of making out with Prince Charming, you had to settle for snogging Grumpy." Alex glared at him. "Bashful? Happy?"

"Right now, I'm thinking Dopey," Alex quietly seethed.

Jimmy nodded in concession. "I'm so sorry I went right to sleep last night. I just don't know why I can't sleep on planes. Given all the dangerous situations we've been in, it seems silly."

"Don't worry about it. I was able to make do with what I had."

"Uh, what do you mean 'make do'?" Alex gave him an impish grin, at which Jimmy shut his eyes in embarrassment. "Aaah, hell. Now I really feel like a jerk for being asleep."

Alex grinned and stroked his face. "Not to worry. Your heart didn't have to be in it. I just needed your body. Although I will admit it's a bit scary you're better at sex when you're asleep than a lot of the guys I've dated who were awake."

Jimmy's eyes widened. "That's…not a bit scary. That's a whole lot of scary."

Alex ran her hands over Jimmy's chest and slid her body against him. "What can I say? Sometimes, this is all I need," she purred as she gestured at his strapping form.

Jimmy gave her a gentle laugh as Alex reached over to the far side of the bed and took a croissant off the breakfast tray she ordered. She held it out for Jimmy, who took a bite in appreciation.

"Thanks," he said. "I wish I had woken up sooner so I could have gotten you the tray."

Alex gave a quiet growl. "Yeah. Because, God forbid, I should treat you to breakfast in bed for once."

"No, I meant…"

Alex cut him off. "Stop." She gripped his shoulders hard. "Two words, James. RE. LAX. You have no idea how frustrating it is to see you act like any little thing you say or do might offend me in some way. OK? Trust me, I am not one of those women who won't say anything for a long time and then just explode all over you at the wrong moment. If you did something wrong, I'll let you know. Like right now. If you want to get me flowers or serve me the occasional breakfast in bed, I certainly won't turn you down. Just don't act like I'll walk out on you if you don't open a door for me one time. That's not me. It'll take a lot more to make me leave."

Jimmy looked away in shame. Alex grabbed his face and wrenched it back to her. "You just did it again!"

"I'm…"

Alex put her hand over the nightstand where Jimmy's gun was. "Try to apologize. Try it. I dare you. I double-dare you." Jimmy clammed up immediately, and Alex calmed down. "Look, you saw _Ferris Bueller_, right?"

"Of course."

"What did Ferris say about the first woman Cameron would ever sleep with?"

"That she would treat Cameron like shit."

"Exactly, that she wouldn't respect him. Why?"

Jimmy nodded as he figured out the error of his ways. "Because you can't respect someone who kisses your ass."

"And you're getting very close to that. We're partners and we're lovers. It's an equal situation. Got it? I don't want your lips anywhere near my ass."

Jimmy raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh, not then," Alex quickly backtracked with a grin. "You put your lips on any part of my body you want. Your hands, tongue, anything you like."

Jimmy started laughing as Alex grabbed his face again and kissed him hard, her tongue flitting like a bumblebee inside his mouth. She slid his hands underneath her slip as she took his boxers off. She planted kisses all over his chest as she threw off her negligee and pressed her slender frame wantonly against his body. She got the result she was looking for.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely that, too," she moaned.

_**Castle Underground Facility  
>July 19, 2011<br>9:10 AM PDT**_

Morgan yawned as he descended the stairs into Castle with a cup of Buy More coffee in an attempt to wake up. He walked over to the main table where Chuck and Sarah were sitting.

"Didn't you get any sleep last night?" Sarah asked.

"Uh, not really. I was with Alex and we…"

Both Chuck and Sarah made 'cut' gestures with their throats. Morgan looked confused until Chuck furtively gestured behind him. Morgan caught on.

"…watched movies most of the night. Alex is really into _Twilight_," Morgan finished as Casey came up behind him.

"Go Team Morgan," Casey replied caustically.

Everybody turned when they heard the upstairs entrance to Castle slide open. Jimmy and Alex walked down the stairs.

"Sorry we're late," Jimmy said as they sat at the table. "The 101 was totally gridlocked, and…" Everybody looked at him like he was full of it. "What?"

"Dude, worst poker face…ever," Chuck informed him.

Jimmy tried to play innocent. "What are you talking about?" He turned to Alex, who was giving him a look.

"James, you're not fooling anybody. They can tell by your face all the different ways we had sex." Everybody at the table tried to hold in their laughter, which offended Alex a bit. "Hey, you get your first boyfriend in ten years and see how long your clothes stay on," she grumbled.

"Let's get started," Casey snarled to refocus everybody. "The convention runs Thursday through Sunday. I downloaded the schedule already, and I have the rest of the bio on Roberts. Like Grimes said last night, he got laid off ten months ago, and he's been living with his parents in Nashville for the last seven months."

"He has a clean record, and if Decker thought bribing him would work, he would have attempted that," Sarah said. "Based on the fact he's never gotten anything worse than a parking ticket, Decker has to be coercing him."

"You mean, like, he'd threaten to kill the guy's parents or his girlfriend or something?" Morgan asked without bothering to hide his worry. Everybody nodded.

"But that could work in our favor," Sarah continued. "If we can find him and talk to him, we might be able to figure out what Decker's holding over his head to do this and help him out. He can also tell us whom he is attempting to meet."

"Yeah, but I gotta believe Decker will have at least a couple of goons watching Jay's every move," Jimmy countered. "Plus, they're likely to wait until the last moment to tell him when and where he has to make his exchange."

Alex nodded. "We also have to assume Decker told his men to keep an eye out for your team; probably all of us. We have to blend in and keep it quiet."

Everybody went silent. Sarah, Alex, and Casey groaned in frustration. Chuck, Morgan, and Jimmy were varying degrees of giddy.

"Sweet! Let's call the CIA office here and tell them to make us some costumes," Morgan beamed.

"We can't, moron," Casey said in irritation. "We don't work for them anymore, remember? And Forrest and Slade can't go in because such an unusual request might tip off Decker."

"Well, where can we get costumes?"

"Gee, if there was only a place in Los Angeles where they would have a huge supply of costumes," Casey replied sarcastically.

Everybody waited for the light bulb to go off in Morgan's mind. "Oh, right," Morgan finally said.

"We'll pick up some costumes from one of the studios," Jimmy said. "Chuck? Sarah? What do you want to be?"

Sarah shook her head. "Uh, we're set on that," Chuck said quietly.

"OK. Uh, Case?" Jimmy's question was met with a teeth-clenched growl. "No costume for you. Morgan?"

"Oh, see if they have a commando outfit. I'd love to be Master Chief!"

"Yeah, sure. No problem," Jimmy replied as he began to wonder what he signed up for.

"Walker, you and I will organize the equipment," Casey said. "Chuck, you and Grimes get into this man's life. See if there's anything that will help us figure out where Roberts will be at Comic Con."

"We can check his credit cards. See where in Nashville he shops. I'll make a few calls," Chuck replied.

Morgan raised his hand. "Morgan, you can just speak up. This isn't high school," Sarah said.

"Well, this guy's a total nerd when it comes to Comic Con. I bet if we hack his DVR and his computer, we can figure out what his favorite movies and shows are. Then we just find those on the schedule for this weekend and concentrate our searches there."

Alex gave Morgan a weird look. "He thinks he can pass as a commando, and yet he comes up with that good of an idea?"

"Morgan's an acquired taste," Chuck replied sheepishly. "I'll find out if his house gets cable or satellite and work from there."

"Let's get to work," Casey announced to conclude the meeting.

_**Unknown Location  
>July 20, 2011<br>1:30 PM**_

Jay found himself in a familiar setting: handcuffed to a chair in a dark room. However, Brodie was now seated next to him and similarly handcuffed. They said as little to each other as possible, figuring someone was listening. They spent the majority of their time sitting in chairs like these or in a dormitory-like room with two very uncomfortable beds and a small bathroom with a shower. There were no windows in the room, and they had no idea where they were. At least they were fed and given a TV to watch.

The door opened, and three men came into the room. Two of them aimed their weapons at Jay and Brodie. The third man approached them with two identical boxes. He placed a box in each of their laps and then walked around behind them to take off their handcuffs.

"Gentlemen, I'm going to give you a set of instructions," the man without the gun said in a businesslike tone. "May I suggest you follow them, or the two men in front of you may be forced to shoot you between the eyes. Please open the boxes in your laps."

Jay and Brodie looked at each other before gingerly opening the small plastic boxes.

"Please take the wristwatch you see and put it on you." Jay and Brodie did as the man commanded. "You'll notice once you close the clasp, you will be unable to take it off. You do not want to take them off. The good news is, they keep very accurate time. The bad news is, they contain a small amount of C-4 plastic explosive. But it's enough to kill you. If you try to take the watch off, it will detonate. If you aren't where we tell you to be, it will detonate. If you don't make the handoff, it will detonate. Deviate in any way, shape, or form from our directions, and…you get the idea."

Jay looked in the box and saw a mobile phone. "What is the phone for?"

"That is how you'll talk to us. Failure to answer the phone or acknowledge a text message when we contact you means we will remote-detonate the watches. And the phones are monitored 24-7, so don't bother calling anybody. Don't even order a pizza."

The man pointed to their boxes again. "The envelope inside contains tickets to get you into the convention and let you sit in on several of the panels. We were nice enough to get you into some of your favorite shows and movies. You'll even get to listen to Spielberg give a talk. The keycard is to your hotel in San Diego. We got you a very nice room, only the phone and Internet will be disabled. And there are cameras everywhere, so we'll know if you try to leave or invite anybody in. I suggest you do neither of those things."

"Wait a minute," Brodie interrupted. "Won't people know we're gone?"

The man smiled and shook his head. "Fortunately for us, both of you have a lot of pictures on your computer. We've been superimposing your images on various locations throughout the country and emailing them to your friends and family. Everybody who knows you believes you're on the ultimate road trip to San Diego. Oh, and your parents just loved the handwoven blanket you sent them from New Mexico, Mr. Roberts."

Jay looked down at the floor. He couldn't shake the fear he wouldn't get out of this alive. He saw enough TV shows and movies to know the hostage almost never gets to walk away. He had to hope and pray someone would rescue him or hope Brodie and he found a weakness and be able to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, given the professionalism of the people who captured them, the former looked bleak and the latter seemed impossible.

"When do we make this exchange?" Jay weakly asked.

"We'll let you know," the man said in a professional demeanor.

_**Echo Park  
>July 19, 2011<br>11:00 PM PDT**_

Chuck lay back in the bed and waited for Sarah to emerge from the bathroom. He couldn't miss the look of annoyance she had on her face as they left Castle.

Sarah probably wished Morgan and he weren't so damned excited about going to Comic Con.

It was something both of them had worked on since they met. Chuck tried to dial down the game playing, and Sarah tried to watch some of the movies and TV shows Chuck loved. She remembered the photograph of her dressed in the Princess Leia costume from _Return of the Jedi _standing next to Chuck in his Han Solo attire. It was a Photoshop creation, courtesy of the CIA, but she felt guilty about a tracking device being planted in the frame to monitor Chuck. Chuck was upset at first, but eventually he was grateful to her for being so understanding after realizing he should have trusted her. He learned that the hard way after trusting Laszlo Mahnovski. To make up for it, she made sure he had a real picture with her in the Leia outfit.

Sarah came into the bedroom and slipped under the covers next to Chuck. She gave him a kiss.

"Are you still mad at me?" Chuck asked.

Sarah looked up at him in surprise. "No. Why would I be?"

Chuck hemmed and hawed a bit. "Well, you weren't too thrilled yesterday when we figured out we'd have to go to Comic Con. I just assumed…"

Sarah smiled and caressed his cheek. "Hey, I know it's a place you love to go, but my mind is already thinking what a logistical nightmare it will be. Even with the information you found, we'll still be looking for a needle in a haystack. A haystack under siege."

Chuck laughed gently. "You're right. This is an assignment, and not an easy one at that. I'll make sure I remind Morgan. But…I just thought…"

"What?"

"Well, you don't really like that Leia costume."

Sarah smiled and slid on top of Chuck. "I admit, it wasn't the most comfortable thing I've ever worn. But I saw how much you liked it. That made it worth the effort."

Chuck's eyes widened. "Oh, you have no idea how much I liked it." Sarah playfully ground against him and tickled his lips with her tongue. "OK, maybe you do."

Sarah wiggled her eyebrows. "Sometimes the signs are obvious."

"But I never wanted to ask you to wear it again because I didn't want you wearing it just for me."

"However, now it might be a good idea. Is that what you're saying?"

Chuck shrugged his shoulders. "Tactically, it might give us an advantage. We have a lot of ground to cover, and all we know is we have to look for Jay. If Decker's got guys watching him, we might be able to use it as a diversion. Plus, if you wear it, it's like an all-access pass to the convention. You'll be able to go into more areas."

Sarah mulled that over. "That's a good point. We might need that." She turned back to Chuck. "I'd certainly prefer it to what Casey might dream up for a plan."

"Yeah, I'm picturing the place being shut down, thousands of pissed off fans, lots of frisking and beating up of people in _Star Trek_ uniforms," Chuck replied, which made Sarah laugh.

"So, what will you wear?" Sarah asked with a devilish glint in her eyes.

"Well, if I was dressing to match you, wouldn't I be Han Solo?"

Sarah grinned. "That's true. And even though I wasn't happy you made me watch all six movies, I do find Han to be so hot."

Chuck gave her a few kisses along her neck as both of them started pulling the other's clothes off. "Do you want to hear a big secret?"

"Mmm, tell me."

"Greedo didn't shoot first. I did."

"Oooh, you really are a scoundrel," Sarah replied as she grabbed Chuck's face and kissed him.

_**San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20  
>July 21, 2011<br>12:10 PM PDT**_

Casey had to give Chuck and Morgan credit: they did their homework.

Thanks to their research into Jay Roberts' personal habits, they had a reasonable path to follow in order to intercept him. There were two panels where they could potentially locate him today. The first one would start in twenty minutes. His DVD purchases over the last few years meant Jay might be interested in seeing the panel for _Psych_.

Casey staked out a location thirty feet from the doors where fans would enter in a few minutes and waited patiently for the rest of the team to arrive. As he refused to wear a costume for this, he was ready to go long before everybody else. He was also at the closest hotel to the convention center, as everybody stayed at different hotels to not raise any red flags with the NSA.

Casey saw Jimmy and Alex approaching. "Nice inconspicuous costumes, you two," he said over his earpiece with substantial amusement.

"Don't look at me," Jimmy replied. "I went with what the guy at the studio told me. He said I'd make a great Conan the Barbarian."

"That was the outfit he thought you looked the hottest in," Alex replied. "You didn't notice it? I don't think he looked you in the eyes the entire time. Now you know what women go through with horny guys."

"He wasn't checking me out," Jimmy denied.

"Really? You STILL don't get that you're good-looking? You now have two genders who would disagree with you. If you don't believe me, turn around really fast."

Jimmy did a quick look behind him. A half-dozen women suddenly turned their heads away from him and pretended they weren't looking at his ass. Jimmy turned back and shook his head in embarrassment.

"Actually, I kind of like the hair," Alex said with a smirk. Jimmy found a mirror and looked at the long-haired wig he was wearing to make him look like Conan and grimaced.

"For someone who's supposed to be aware of their surroundings at all times, you really suck at it," Casey said with a bit of a grin. "Way not to draw attention to yourself."

Jimmy scoffed. "Oh, yeah. You blend," he replied in a dead-on imitation of Marisa Tomei from _My Cousin Vinny_.

"OK, let's spread out," Alex said to cut the two of them off. "Morgan, are you in the convention center yet?"

"I'll be there in twenty seconds," he replied over their earpieces.

"I'll stake out the north hallway," Alex said and departed in that direction.

"What costume is he wearing?" Casey asked Jimmy.

Jimmy smiled. "Let's just say I nailed it for him."

"What do you mean?"

"Jimmy, this costume is so epic, man!"

For the first time since arriving in Burbank, Casey was rendered speechless by someone other than Chuck and his Intersect. Morgan was decked out in a pair of green pants with a beige shirt and a yellow vest, tied at the middle with a huge belt and buckle. He wore a threadbare coat to match.

"Oh, yeah. Because dressing as Bilbo Baggins will really help you with the ladies," Casey mocked.

"Hey, it's appropriate. That new _Hobbit_ movie is coming out next year," Morgan replied.

"Except Baggins didn't have a beard."

Jimmy turned to Casey in astonishment. "And how would you know that?"

Casey hesitated for a moment before shrugging. "Required reading, freshman year of high school."

Jimmy tried not to burst out laughing. "Yeah, right. Push your nose back in there, Pinocchio."

Casey grunted at Jimmy before turning his attention back to Morgan. "You have a ticket to get into that panel, and it isn't likely Decker's goons would recognize you right away. Go inside and keep an eye out for Roberts. If you see him, follow him out. Slade, Forrest, and I will keep an eye on you from a distance."

"Hey, you got it, big Case," Morgan replied. "I'm, like, the handler on this one, right?"

"No," Casey replied before turning and walking away.

"You'll be fine," Jimmy reassured him. "Get in there. It's almost time to start."

"You got it, man." Morgan turned and walked into the ballroom. Jimmy started walking towards the south hallway to keep an eye on convention-goers coming from that direction. Casey took a position out of sight where he could keep watch on the doors.

"Bartowski, where are you two at?" Casey said quietly to not draw attention.

"Uh, we may have a problem getting to Ballroom 20," Chuck painfully replied.

"What do you mean?"

* * *

><p>Chuck and Sarah headed down the main hallway of the convention center. At first, they had little trouble moving through the crowd, as it parted like the Red Sea for them.<p>

"What's going on?" Sarah quietly asked Chuck. "Why is everybody giving us such a wide berth?"

He grinned. "Well, I think it might be because of what we're wearing. And by the way, when I mean 'we', I actually mean you."

Sarah was surprised. "OK, I know the Leia outfit is a little revealing, but I've seen at least a dozen women dressed this way since we walked in."

"Yeah, and none of them looked too happy with you. Let's face it; you are the most beautiful woman in this entire convention."

She smiled. "Awww, you always say that about me. Not that I don't appreciate it, sweetie." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Uh, Sarah, I think everybody here would actually agree with me."

Sarah took a good look at the crowd. The majority of the crowd was staring at her with their mouths agape. She turned around and noticed a wave of convention-goers following Chuck and her.

Someone ahead of them approached Sarah with a digital camera. "Uh, can I…can I…take a picture with you?"

Sarah stopped in surprise. She then took a quick look around. With such a large crowd around them, she was worried about turning him down and getting so many people upset with her.

She turned to Chuck. "Uh, should we?"

Chuck looked nervously at the crowd. "That sounds like the safest bet."

Sarah turned back to the person with the camera. "Sure."

The young man smiled broadly and handed his camera to Chuck. Sarah stood next to him and posed for the picture. Chuck snapped the picture and handed the camera back to the young man.

"Thank you, thank you so much." The young man was practically in tears. "All my friends are going to be so jealous! How much do you charge?"

Sarah was taken back. "How much do I charge?"

The young man put a $50 in her hand. "Is that enough? I'll pay more!"

"No, no, that's fine," Sarah said in shock. The young man walked away and met up with his friends.

"What the hell just happened?" Sarah asked Chuck.

"The women who dress up as Princess Leia? They take pictures with fans. But they usually charge $20."

Sarah was incredulous. "But he gave me a $50! And he was willing to give me more! Just for a picture?"

Chuck took her in his arms. "Now do you believe me when I say you're the most beautiful woman here?" He gave her a kiss and she eagerly responded.

"Lucky bastard!" someone shouted from the crowd.

They quickly separated. "Come on," Sarah said as her mind got back to the reason they were there. "We have to give everybody a hand."

Chuck and Sarah tried to continue down the hall…only to be stopped by a pair of boys in cheaply-made Rebel Alliance costumes. "Could you take a picture with us?"

Sarah sighed. "OK, but we have to do it fast." They handed Chuck their camera, and the two boys posed with Sarah. Chuck took the picture, and each kid handed her $100.

"You're the prettiest Princess Leia I've ever seen here," one boy said. Sarah couldn't help but smile at the young man's sincerity.

Chuck shook his head in amazement. "We keep this up, and this mission won't cost us a dime."

Sarah rolled her eyes at that thought, but they only got another five steps before someone else asked to take Sarah's picture.

"Bartowski, where are you two at?" Casey said into their earpieces.

Chuck shook his head. "Uh, we may have a problem getting to Ballroom 20."

* * *

><p>Alex kept watch in the north hallway for any sign of either Jay Roberts or someone who didn't belong at the convention. She took a close look at anybody wearing a security uniform to see if their ID badge matched the ones the convention was using. She theorized it would be the best way for someone to blend in who might be keeping an eye on Roberts.<p>

"Oh, my God! It's Tricia Helfer!"

Alex looked around to see where the voice came from. She saw someone in a costume point in her general direction. She looked behind her to see whom the man spotted but didn't see any females.

"Tricia!" Suddenly more people started looking in Alex's direction. The man who called out the name first came up to her.

"Oh, my God! That's a cool outfit! Can I have an autograph?"

Alex was taken by surprise. "Uh, I'm not Tricia Helfer."

"Of course you are!" the man said. He then pointed to Alex's costume. "Oh, is that for a movie you're promoting?"

"I swear, I'm not Tricia Helfer. I don't even know who Tricia Helfer is."

"Oh, come on. _Battlestar Galactica_! You were so sexy as Number Six!"

Suddenly Alex was surrounded by a crowd calling her Tricia Helfer. She had no way out, short of committing assault on a bunch of movie and TV nerds.

"People, I'm telling you. I'm not Tricia Helfer!"

Someone in the crowd pointed to her outfit. "Oh, my God! I know where that costume's from! You're remaking _Barbarella_!"

The crowd went crazy, and Alex stared in shock. She actually didn't know what outfit she was wearing. She took it because it looked futuristic and sexy. She quietly cursed herself for not asking Jimmy about it.

Two large security guards made their way through the crowd to her. "Ms Helfer, you shouldn't walk around the convention without an escort," one of them said. "You of all people should know it turns into a mob scene wherever you go."

"Guys, I'm not Tricia Helfer," she tried to shout to them but she was drowned out by the excited crowd. Two more security personnel arrived, and the quartet of guards surrounded Alex. They led her through the crowd to a room with restricted access.

"Are you OK, Ms Helfer?" the guard who found her asked. "Can we get you some water? Juice? I think the bar is open if you want something from there."

"No, I don't want anything," Alex angrily replied. "You guys are mistaking me for someone else!"

"Oh, hey. We understand," the second guard said in a conspiratorial voice. "You've been to so many of these, the crowds must exhaust you after a while. I totally sympathize."

"We'll get you a new set of credentials right away," the first guard said. He went for the door and turned back. "And hey, you're even hotter now than you were on BSG."

Alex shook her head in frustration. She reached for her mobile phone. They needed a lot more help. Although she agreed with what the guard said. She was much hotter these days.

* * *

><p>Casey checked his watch. The <em>Psych<em> panel was almost done, and the stage crew would set up for _Ringer_ next. Casey did not see Jay Roberts anyplace, but with such a large crowd at the convention, it would have been very easy for Casey to miss him. He kept his eyes focused on the crowd near the doors, particularly the ones waiting for the _Ringer_ panel to begin.

Suddenly, he ducked out of sight.

"Grimes, Roberts must be in there somewhere," he said quietly.

"I don't know, Case," Morgan whispered inside the ballroom. "I've been looking around, but maybe he came in late or he came in when the lights were out during the introduction. I'm still looking."

"I just spotted one of the men assigned to watch Roberts. He was with me in Colonel Keller's old unit. Randall Hicks. Decker must have found him somewhere. Nasty piece of work. Slade, what's your location?"

"South hallway, I'm making my way back to the ballroom. You better make yourself scarce."

"Track down Roberts," Casey ordered. Casey ducked into the restroom across from Ballroom 20.

The crowd stood and applauded as the _Psych_ panel finished. They filed out the doors. Morgan spotted Roberts and tried frantically to catch up to him.

"Jay! Jay, you there?" Morgan yelled in desperation. Jay stopped for a second and turned, but Morgan couldn't negotiate his way through the crowd.

"Watch it, loser," a large man growled at Morgan, who fell to the ground. Morgan caught sight of Roberts' wrist. He flashed on the watch Roberts was wearing, seeing images of a lab, a chemical formula, and a demonstration that ended in an explosion.

Suddenly, Morgan leaped up in a panic. He ran out the other ballroom exit away from the crowd. He looked around, but the crowd was walking away from him. Hicks and the other man watching Roberts and Brodie followed them down the hallway.

Morgan turned and spotted Jimmy running towards him.

"Did you see him?" Jimmy asked.

"Dude, we've got bigger problems than that," Morgan replied as he was bordering on hyperventilation.

"Whoah, slow down, Morgan. What are you talking about?"

"He's got a bomb strapped to him. They could kill him any time they want!"

"A bomb? Did you see it?"

"Yeah, I did the flash thingy on it!"

Jimmy looked around. "Everybody, abort for now. Rendezvous at Location One, thirty minutes."

Morgan and Jimmy ran towards the main entrance.


	3. Laugh It Up, Fuzzballs

_Hello. Adding the latest chapter to this story. And once again, I can't write short chapters. I have no idea why. People do ask I throw in little bits of fluff here and there, and hopefully I'm filling my required quota of fluff. _

_Once again, thanks to **BDaddyDL** for giving me some early critiques of the chapter. Also for reminding me the only person who is worried about cranking out the story fast is me._

_One chapter to go after this. Please enjoy, and PLEASE leave me some reviews. Thanks!_

* * *

><p><em><strong>San Diego Convention Center, Main Entrance<br>July 21, 2011  
>1:45 PM PDT<strong>_

Chuck and Sarah heard Jimmy call the abort. Although they were the closest to Location One, a bar across the street from the entrance to the Convention Center, they were still having difficulty escaping the crowd. A line thirty deep had formed around them to take a picture with Sarah. They couldn't get the attention of any bodyguards.

"You did make it this year!"

Chuck and Sarah turned in the direction of the voice. Although the voice was very familiar, the two standing behind them were the last people they expected to see. To say nothing about their outfits.

"Devon! Ellie! What are you doing here?" Chuck asked in shock.

"One of Devon's associates was supposed to attend this, but he had to stay with a patient back in L.A., so he asked if we could use his passes. I always wanted to know why you and Morgan are so ga-ga about this place." Ellie eyed Sarah's outift and the attention she was getting with a bit of jealousy. "Well, I see what the crowd gets out of this."

"Whoah! Forget Leia. I want a picture with Wonder Woman!" someone shouted from the crowd, which erased Ellie's jealousy in an instant.

"And…that was my next question," Chuck said with a sigh.

"We always see you and Morgan arguing every year over picking the perfect costume," Devon replied. "We thought it was required you come in costume. These were the first comic book characters we thought of."

"Superman and Wonder Woman?" Sarah asked, trying not to laugh at Devon's surprisingly-accurate Clark Kent hairstyle. "I'm surprised Chuck's influence hadn't rubbed off more on you."

"We thought of a few more, but we tried these on, and well, you know…"

"...and I'm cutting this conversation off before it goes further," Chuck interrupted while trying to erase the image from his head.

Sarah took a look at the crowd and suddenly had an idea. "Ellie, I can't really explain it to you right now, but we need your help. Can you…well, take over for me?"

"Take over?"

"Fans will pay to take pictures with costumed characters, just like taking pictures with Mickey Mouse." Sarah gestured to Ellie's Wonder Woman outfit. "I think you'll do as well with the crowds as I did."

"He's so hot!" a female voice screamed out, followed by a chorus of agreement from her friends.

Sarah smiled. "And I'm guessing Devon won't do badly, either. Just take whatever they give you. You can make some money for the hospital."

"Where will you two be?" Devon asked with some concern.

"I promise, Devon. We'll explain everything. Right now, it's kind of an emergency."

Devon hesitated momentarily, as Chuck's definition of 'emergency' was expansive. He finally nodded. "You got it, bro. We'll wow the crowd."

"Thanks, guys," Sarah said in relief. Chuck and Sarah ran out of the convention center.

_**Toscana Café, San Diego  
>July 21, 2011<br>2:15 PM PDT**_

Alex came into the bar and spotted Morgan and Jimmy sitting at a table near the back of the bar. Chuck, Sarah, and Casey entered the restaurant as well and joined the group.

"OK, we have a lot of problems," Sarah began. "Chuck and I were mobbed by the fans."

"I had the same problem. They think I'm Tricia Helfer," Alex added. She looked at Chuck, Morgan, and Jimmy. "I never even saw _Battlestar Galactica_. Do I look like her?"

Jimmy shrugged. "Well, you're both tall and blonde. But by that logic, you could be a model on _The Price is Right_."

"Ooh, have you ever, you know, dyed your hair really, really blonde?" Morgan asked.

"Bleach blonde?" Morgan nodded. "Not since sophomore year of college. And a lot of alcohol was involved."

"Are we really having this conversation right now?" Casey growled, which shut everybody up in an instant. "What happened, Slade?"

Jimmy pulled out a tablet computer and brought up an image. "Tell them about your flash," he said to Morgan.

"OK, so I flashed on this watch Jay was wearing. It's really an explosive device. It's popular on the black market because it has a special metal housing that hides the C-4 in it from, you know, when you go through the metal detectors at an airport. Drug cartels use it all the time to make sure deals go the way they should. Kidnappers put them on their victims until the ransom is paid…you know, stuff like that."

"Any way to disarm it?" Sarah asked.

Morgan looked at the floor. "I didn't see anything in the Intersect about it, and Jimmy can't find anything else online. You try to remove it, cut it, anything, and it goes off. It can also be hooked up to a remote, so you don't even have to be in the room to detonate it."

"We have more problems than that," Casey continued. "The SOB with his finger on the trigger was part of my old unit with Colonel Keller. Randall Hicks. He did a lot of the 'wetwork' for the unit. Not only would he recognize me, if Decker brought him in, he has every intention of killing Roberts once this is over."

"And now Devon and Ellie will be wondering what's going on," Chuck said quietly, which caught everybody by surprise.

"What are they doing here?" Jimmy asked.

Chuck threw his hands up. "Doing their part to revive the Justice League? I wish I knew."

Sarah shook her head. "So now half of us can't even help Roberts because we'll draw attention or tip off Decker."

"I called in some help a while ago after security dragged me into a private room," Alex said. "She should be here any minute. I texted the location after James called the abort."

"She?" Morgan inquired. He got an immediate answer.

"Hello, everyone. Need me to bail you out again?" Carina Miller stood there with her hands on her hips and wore her traditional lascivious smirk.

The reaction to Carina's presence ranged from relieved to perturbed, depending on the person. The low growl emanating from Casey in response to Carina's tease put him squarely in that second group.

"Good to see you, Carina. We need an extra set of eyes right now," Jimmy said.

"Good to see you, too, Jimmy." Carina looked him up and down. "Especially wearing that." Carina took out her mobile phone and snapped a picture of Jimmy in his Conan attire. "That should get me through my undercover mission in San Antonio next week."

"Already regretting this," Alex groused.

Carina took another picture of Jimmy with her mobile phone…aimed much lower. Alex started to walk towards Carina, but Jimmy put a hand out to stop her and snatched Carina's phone.

"That'll save me a long argument tonight," he muttered angrily as he deleted the pictures and handed the phone back to Carina. "Sorry. Please continue," Jimmy said as he gestured towards Sarah and Casey.

Casey growled quietly at being interrupted before continuing. "The best chance to get to Roberts tomorrow will be between the _Star Trek: Captains_ talk and _The Big Bang Theory_. There's a seventy-five minute window where we could talk to him."

"Casey, Alex, and I will secure a room to talk with him," Sarah said. "Chuck, it'll be up to you, Morgan, Jimmy, and Carina to get him there."

"Any ideas how?" Chuck asked.

"Nothing's coming to mind. But our options are limited. Casey can't risk being seen by Decker's men, everybody thinks Alex is Tricia Helfer, and I'll cause a mob scene if I go out there. We can't risk that."

Chuck sat in silence for a moment. Suddenly his eyes widened and a huge smile lit up his face. "Or can we?"

Everybody stared at him. "Uh, dude, you want to start a riot?" Morgan asked.

"Look, we don't know the whole story behind this. We can't kidnap them, and they can't wander off on their own without arousing suspicions. But what if something happened to them, like they won a contest?"

"Intriguing," Jimmy replied. "What kind of contest?"

"Oh, I'm thinking they win a walk-on role for a television pilot episode. Perhaps one a famous actress is here to promote. Or…someone closely resembling a famous actress," Chuck said with a grin as he looked at Alex.

Alex glared at him. "Really? We can't come up with anything better?"

Jimmy shrugged. "Chuck's right. Decker's men would be less suspicious if someone famous approached Jay."

"And what if the real Tricia Helfer shows up?"

"She's not coming this year," Morgan quickly replied. "Her Twitter account says she was doing work on her house this weekend." Morgan typed a few things into Jimmy's tablet computer. "And now her account is having a few problems reading anything from Comic Con, just in case someone starts tweeting they saw her here."

"Carina, you'll provide surveillance at the rendezvous with Jimmy," Chuck said. "You'll have to wear a costume so you can blend in."

Carina was instantly suspicious. "What costume?"

Chuck looked at Morgan, and both of them smiled. They answered at the same time.

"Alice," Chuck said.  
>"Leeloo," Morgan said.<p>

Chuck did a double-take. "Morgan, I think _Resident Evil_ works better here."

"Aww, buddy. Carina could totally pull off _The Fifth Element_, can't she?" Morgan replied with a little too much excitement.

"Yeah, uh, let's have Carina wear a costume that doesn't drive the crowd wild."

"Or Carina, for that matter," Alex mumbled.

"Morgan and I will be waiting in the room. Case, you and Sarah will accompany Alex to get Jay, just in case something goes wrong."

"And how exactly do I walk right up to Roberts without Hicks recognizing me?" Casey asked with his patented sneer.

Chuck smiled. "Oh, I have the perfect disguise for you."

"Jimmy, keep an eye on Jay and make sure nothing happens the rest of the day," Sarah said. "Morgan, you and Casey find us a room. Chuck and I will get Alex and Carina what they need for tomorrow. Let's get going."

Everybody exited the bar. Casey, Morgan, and Jimmy returned to the convention. Chuck and Sarah took Alex and Carina to get them ready for Friday.

_**Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego  
>July 21, 2011<br>9:00 PM PDT**_

"That was…different."

Chuck, Sarah, Ellie, and Devon sat in the restaurant of their hotel finishing dinner for the evening. The remainder of the afternoon and early evening kept them quite occupied as they helped Alex and Carina get their costumes ready for their roles on Friday. Jimmy had called earlier to report nothing unusual had happened with Jay. However, he did report Jay appeared to be traveling with a second person. Jimmy theorized it was a friend of Jay's. Jimmy would attempt to track down the hotel where they were staying.

His night would be much easier than what Chuck and Sarah had to do.

"Different how, Ellie?" Sarah asked.

"We took pictures with a lot of people, but I felt as worthless as I did the first day I opened the MCAT's study guide. Everybody kept asking me questions about Wonder Woman, and Devon kept getting pressed about Superman. Who wrote the best comic, Superman vs. Batman, what Wonder Woman uniform was the best, and so on? I barely remember the TV show with Lynda Carter."

"Although it was pretty awesome we made almost $1,200 between the two of us," Devon said. "We can put that to good use. How much did you make, Sarah?"

"Oh, I don't know. Six, seven hundred, maybe?" Sarah replied cryptically, which earned her a very disbelieving glance from Ellie. "Three thousand," Sarah said in embarrassment. Ellie rolled her eyes at that thought.

"Anyway, what's going on?" Devon asked. "We saw Casey at the convention, and then we saw Morgan talking to that guy who used to work at the Buy More. Jimmy, right?"

Chuck nodded.

"I thought you didn't work for the CIA anymore," Ellie said.

"Officially, we don't. But General Beckman called us because she believes someone inside the Agency is planning to do something bad here at Comic Con. A lot of innocent people might be in danger."

"Inside the CIA? You mean like what that Shaw guy tried to do?"

"Something similar, yes. Beckman doesn't have the power to get rid of this person, and she can't use the resources in the CIA to catch him because he's in control. So she called us."

"What is this person planning to do?" Devon asked.

"We don't know," Sarah replied. "All we know so far is they kidnapped a computer programmer and threatened his family or his friends. We're not sure. We have to find this person to find out what's going on, and we have to do it without anybody finding out."

"That's why you have the whole crew here?"

"Exactly. We brought in people we know and trust. Casey, Morgan, Jimmy, Alex Forrest, and my friend Carina. Hopefully, that will be enough to find this man."

Ellie was quiet. She knew everything they had been through in the last four years: Chuck receiving the Intersect, finding out Sarah and Casey were spies, the lies Chuck had to tell, reuniting with their father, Chuck and Sarah falling in love, their father's murder and bringing their mother home. But when all was said and done, despite the hell they went through, Ellie couldn't be happier to be a doctor, a wife, and a mother. And her little brother, whom she held out hope for all of those years blossomed before her eyes to become someone greater than anyone could have imagined and married one of the most amazing people Ellie had ever met.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Ellie asked softly.

Sarah smiled. "We can't ask you to do this…"

"Sarah, you've helped us more times than we could ever know. We want to help."

"We'll know more tomorrow once we find this person. For now, just enjoy the convention and act like everything is OK."

"But I would recommend you study tonight," Chuck added.

"Study what, bro?"

Chuck smiled. "Uh, like, what was the name of the town Superman grew up in? What is the name of his editor at the _Daily Planet_? Or Ellie, what does Wonder Woman's magic lasso do?"

"Whoop, good point, Chuck." Devon turned to Ellie. "Looks like we got a date with Google tonight, babe."

The check arrived, which Ellie insisted on paying. Chuck and Sarah shared a smile at Ellie still playing her role of big sister, even though they had hundreds of millions of dollars at their disposal. They left the restaurant and went to their respective rooms.

_**Horton Grand Hotel, San Diego  
>July 22, 2011<br>8:45 AM PDT**_

"This looks preposterous. I sure as hell hope Tricia got paid a lot for this, because I wouldn't do it."

Jimmy shook his head as he looked at Alex in the mirror. He could not for the life of him figure out why she was complaining.

"Actually, now that you have that red dress Number Six wore for a lot of those early episodes, you do look a bit like Tricia." Alex shot Jimmy a dirty look. "Is that a bad thing? Tricia Helfer is sexy as hell!"

"This wig doesn't look right."

Jimmy exhaled in frustration and brought up a picture on his tablet computer. "I hate to burst your bubble, but the $2,000 we paid for the wig was well worth it. You look amazing." She showed Alex the image of Number Six from the first season of _Battlestar Galactica _in the same outfit. "Believe me; there is a reason why Tricia is so popular here. Nobody in sci-fi is hotter than her."

"Oh, please. I look ridiculous," Alex seethed.

"Ugh, you're driving me up a frakkin' wall here! You're beautiful, OK? God, how can anybody be so blind to not know how beautiful they are?"

Alex glared at him. Jimmy figured it out in a hurry. "Yeah, I'll, uh…I'll be shutting up now," he said as he sheepishly backed away.

Alex turned back to the mirror as she put her shoes on. "You're a riot."

Jimmy went back and turned Alex to face him. He took her in his arms. "Look, it's a mission. It's an important one. You've done stuff a hundred times crazier for things less important than this, right?" Alex nodded. "You always tell me that's our job; use any and all means to accomplish our missions. Believe me; you'll do great. You always do."

Alex smiled at Jimmy's confidence in her but couldn't stop herself from looking at the ground. "I still feel like an idiot."

Jimmy gently raised her chin. "I'll tell you what. If you do this, when we're done with the mission…"

Alex eyed him suspiciously. "What?"

Jimmy smiled and planted a kiss on her lips. He followed it up with several kisses to her cheek. He whispered something in her ear.

She took his face roughly in her hands. "Don't tease me like that. Don't promise it unless you mean it."

"I meant every word of it."

"I could never get you to do that before and now you will?"

Jimmy arched his eyebrows at her. "Anything for you."

That put an instant smile on Alex's face. She gave him a passionate kiss, her hands roaming all over his bare chest. Her hands glided downward as they kissed.

"Ouch!" Jimmy cried out.

"What?" Alex said in surprise.

Jimmy clenched his teeth as he grimaced from the pain. "Let's just say now I know why Conan never got laid in his movies."

She was confused for a minute before she looked down. She then laughed hysterically. "And I thought this dress was restrictive."

"Oh, I am so going to kill the guy who gave me this costume."

"Hey, the man knew well-built when he saw it. I'm lucky; I get to enjoy it up close and personal."

"Yeah well, be ready for all the Number Six jokes I'll be rolling out," Jimmy growled. Alex gave him a look. "Or maybe not."

The two walked out of the suite and headed to the convention.

_**San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 6 Lobby  
>July 22, 2011<br>11:00 AM PDT**_

Jimmy looked back and forth in the lobby for Jay or anybody else on the team. Alex was hidden out of sight twenty feet away. They decided it was best to keep her out of sight so the crowds wouldn't descend upon her.

"Hey there," a voice behind him said.

Jimmy turned around to see Carina decked out in a black t-shirt, black spandex leggings, and knee-high leather boots. She carried two Nepal knives and had two shotguns holstered behind her back.

"Uh, all those weapons are fake, right?" Jimmy nervously asked.

Carina shrugged. "We really don't know what we're up against, Jimmy."

"Hopefully not anything where you need to crack those out in front of 20,000 nerds."

"Chuck said Alice kicks a lot of mutant zombie ass in the movies. Whatever that means; I didn't really pay attention outside of the words 'kick' and 'ass'."

Carina looked at Jimmy's sword. "Besides, you're walking around with a big weapon like that, so why are you worried about a couple of knives?"

Jimmy's eyes darted back and forth. "Uh, you ARE talking about the sword, right?" Carina gave him a disbelieving glance. "OK, sorry. I just hear more double entendres out of you than an episode of _Match Game_, so…"

Sarah came up behind them. "Are you two ready?"

"Sure," Jimmy replied. "The _Star Trek_ panel should be letting out in a few minutes. Where's Casey?"

Sarah's smile was wider than either Carina or Jimmy had seen. "Uh, try to avoid laughing."

"Why?"

A very large creature approached the three. Jimmy doubled-over in hysterics. Carina put her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from doing the same thing.

"Hiya, Case. Given up on shaving, have we?" Jimmy beamed.

"Shut up," Casey growled from under his Chewbacca headpiece.

"Come on, Jimmy," Sarah retorted. "It's not Casey's fault. Be nice."

"Oh, like you should talk. You think of him as just a big walking carpet. Not to mention you took Han away from him! You destroyed the ultimate interstellar bromance!"

Sarah shook her head in disgust. "You're worse than Morgan sometimes."

"Where's Forrest?" Casey asked.

Carina pointed to the room where Alex was. "She's waiting for you inside."

"OK, let's go," Sarah told Casey. "Let us know when you spot Jay."

"You got it," Jimmy replied. Sarah and Casey went to meet with Alex while Jimmy and Carina staked out the exits of the ballroom.

Sarah and Casey entered the room where Alex was waiting. They were surprised to see four bodyguards with her. Alex gave Sarah a look, and Sarah caught on.

"Ms. Helfer, are you almost ready?" Sarah asked.

"Ready to go. These men were nice enough to help me get through the crowds."

"We'll go outside in a few minutes."

"Cool Chewbacca costume," one of the guards said to Casey, who grunted in response. "Oh, you're in character. I get it. Sweet. Although I think you have to elongate your growl a bit."

Casey sighed. "There you go!" the same guard exclaimed. "Perfect."

"Panel's over," Carina stated over their earpieces several minutes later. "Everybody's coming out. The hallway looks like the lunch line on a James Cameron film."

Sarah turned away from Alex and the bodyguards. "Do you have eyes on Jay?"

"Hang on," Jimmy replied from the other end of the hallway. He scanned the crowd. "Got them. They're heading in my direction. Time to give them their fifteen minutes."

Alex stood and headed for the door. "Let's go, boys," she told the guards. They flanked her on both sides. Sarah and Casey followed closely behind Alex. As soon as they emerged in the hallway, a gasp was heard from the crowd. Everybody turned and stampeded towards Alex, who was taken back a bit. However, the bodyguards kept the crowd at bay while they made their way down the hall.

Alex approached Jay and Brodie. "Are you Jay Roberts?"

"Uh, uh, yeah," Jay stammered. "Big fan of yours, Ms. Helfer."

"Well, you're about to be an even bigger fan. You entered a contest online a few months ago, and your name was selected."

Jay went positively ashen. "Oh, my God. What did I win?"

"You've won a walk-on role on a TV pilot. You'll spend a week in New York, all expenses paid."

Sarah and Casey kept an eye on the crowd. Casey spotted Hicks at the back of the crowd keeping tabs on Roberts, but he didn't make any sort of move. However, if anybody else was watching Roberts, Casey couldn't spot them.

"We'll take you upstairs to tell you everything. Do you have time right now?"

"Uh, yeah! Absolutely," Jay replied, beyond awestruck.

"Let's go, then."

Jay and Brodie walked next to Alex as the bodyguards cleared a pathway in front of them. Jimmy kept an eye on them as they got to the escalators and went upstairs to Room 31. Alex took Jay and Brodie inside. Sarah, Casey, Jimmy, and Carina followed close behind.

"Nobody comes in," Alex told the guards. The doors shut, and the four bodyguards stood in front of the doors. Randall Hicks made it to the top of the escalators but couldn't locate Jay or Brodie. He quietly cursed and attempted to go to Room 31.

"Sorry, sir. Ms. Helfer's strict orders. Nobody can sit in on the meeting for legal reasons."

Hicks tried to play it cool. "Hey, my friend went in there. I just want to see what's going on."

"Sorry," the guard replied with a little more force. Hicks moved down the hall and kept watch.

Inside the room, Jay calmed down a bit after hearing the great news. "So, what kind of show is it? Is there…"

He fell silent as Casey took off his Chewbacca headpiece and Chuck and Morgan emerged.

"What's…what's going on?" Brodie asked nervously.

"Jay, Brodie, we're not Hollywood producers," Chuck said softly.

Jay froze. "Wait a minute. She's not Tricia Helfer?"

Alex shook her head. "My name is Alex Forrest. I work for the government, as does everybody in here."

"What?"

"We know you're in danger. We're here to help."

Jay glanced at the watch on his wrist. "We're…we're not in trouble. What makes you think that?"

"You stole what you thought was an important file from the NSA a week ago?" Jimmy replied. "But the file was really bait. You were kidnapped and threatened into committing some sort of crime here."

Jimmy pointed to the watches on Jay and Brodie. "They slapped those explosive devices on your wrists? Threatened your family? Your friends?"

Jay felt the wind go out of him. He started collapsing to the ground. Morgan slid a chair under him before he fell. Chuck walked up to Jay and squatted down so he was at eye level with him.

"Jay," Chuck said gently. "We know who's behind it. We can help you. But you have to tell us everything."

Jay was eerily silent for several minutes. Chuck had a lot of sympathy for him, as the first time he discovered having the Intersect and being in danger was incredibly daunting.

"Do you know who spoke to you?" Sarah asked, hoping to get Jay to start talking.

"I…don't know. I was kept in a dark room and never saw anybody's faces. Then they had Brodie next to me unconscious. They…they put a knife to his throat. They showed me a video of my parents' house. It's wired to explode!"

"OK, OK," Chuck said as he put his hand on Jay's arm to calm him. "Let's start with the man. Did he speak with an accent?"

"No, he was definitely American. He sounded like a professional. I…tried to bluff and say I knew what the file contained. But it was like he said; the file was just bait."

"Is there anything else you can tell us about the man's voice?"

"I don't know. He sounded older, if that helps. Cocky as hell, too. Almost as if he liked his job, y'know?"

Everybody looked at each other, and the same thought passed though all of their minds. _Decker_.

"Brodie, is there anything else you can add?" Jimmy asked him. "Anything about the men who kidnapped you that Jay didn't tell us?"

Brodie shook his head. "Nothing. They're definitely professional. Like they were in the military or something. Does that sound right?"

"We know at least one of the people involved," Casey replied. "Served with him a few years ago. He's been following your movements for the last day, if not more."

"Have you noticed anybody following you?" Chuck asked.

Both Jay and Brodie shook their heads. "No. The last guy to talk to us gave us these watches and mobile phones. We're supposed to answer them if they call or they'll detonate the watches."

"Let's see the phones," Jimmy commanded. Jay and Brodie took out their phones and handed them to Jimmy. He took them to the back of the room to Morgan, who was sitting at a table with a laptop computer.

"Now you said they threatened your parents. How?" Sarah asked.

"They put something on the furnace in their house. They said it would go off Saturday night if we didn't pass some data along. They said it would look like an accident."

"What kind of data? Did they tell you?"

Jay shook his head. "They didn't tell us anything."

"They're playing it safe," Casey replied. "Keep you in the dark until the last possible moment, and then get rid of you once you've served your purpose."

Jay and Brodie froze. "Whoah, wait," Brodie said as he stood up. "They're going to kill us anyway? We should run…"

Alex clamped a hand on Brodie's shoulder and pushed him back into his seat. "If you run, they can detonate the watches and still kill Jay's parents. Until you find out when and where the exchange is, you have to play along."

"But we don't…I don't wanna die!"

"We won't let that happen," Chuck reassured Brodie. "We'll figure out a way to get those wristwatches off of you and keep you safe. But you can't do anything to tip them off. You have to act like everything's normal. Just do what they want and we'll get you out of this. Nothing will happen to you."

Jimmy walked up and handed Jay and Brodie back their phones. "OK, we cloned these. If they call you, we'll know everything."

"Look, I know this is a lot to handle, but all of us will do whatever it takes to get you home safely," Chuck said. "I promise."

Jay and Brodie sat in silence for a moment before nodding.

"Good. Now head to your next panel, and remember, act like nothing is wrong. We'll keep an eye on you."

Jay and Brodie slowly stood and walked away from the group. They exited the room and walked down the hallway to Ballroom 20.

"Carina, keep an eye on them," Sarah told her.

"You got it."

"Slade, contact Beckman through the back channels so Decker doesn't pick up on it," Casey said. "Tell her to contact Nashville's Chief of Police. Make sure they keep their little trip to the Roberts' house as quiet as possible."

"No prob," Jimmy replied as he got on his mobile phone.

"Morgan, can we keep tabs on them?" Sarah asked.

"No sweat, Mrs. B. I've got locks on the GPS inside their phones."

"Keep working on a way to disarm those watches. There has to be something online somewhere."

Sarah shook her head. "I hate having to wait for Decker to make his move."

"Toughest part about this job," Casey replied. "Our best bet in this case is to wait them out. There's only a day and a half after this. It will be soon."

_**Westin Hotel Horton Plaza, San Diego  
>July 22, 2011<br>6:00 PM PDT**_

Randall Hicks placed a call to Clyde Decker. He gave a status report twice a day to Decker, but until this afternoon, nothing had been out of the ordinary. Roberts and Brodie Edwards behaved themselves.

"Status, Hicks?" Decker asked.

"Roberts and Edwards are back in their rooms. They're behaving normally. However…"

"What?"

"They had some Hollywood actress meet with them. That robot babe from that Star Galaxy show?"

"_Battlestar Galactica_?"

"That's it, the hot blonde. I think her name's Tricia Helfer"

"What was that about?"

"Supposedly Roberts won a contest. He gets to do a walk-on role on a show she's doing. Weird coincidence."

"You sure it was Helfer?"

"The crowd went crazy when they saw her, so I don't see how it wasn't."

Decker was silent for a moment. "OK, keep the plan as is. Make the handoff during the _Firefly_ reunion. As soon as it's over, intercept Roberts and Edwards and eliminate them. Quietly."

"You got it."

Decker hung up the phone. His instincts were telling him something wasn't right. He pulled up the online news articles concerning Comic Con. Sure enough, they confirmed Tricia Helfer was there. But something still felt off. He didn't think Diane Beckman had caught wind of this. But if she had, she wouldn't just turn a blind eye to it.

He made a few phone calls. He sent two teams to San Diego. Hicks would clean up Roberts and Edwards, and the two teams would take care of anybody who tried to stop him.


	4. It's Not Just A TV Show, Dammit!

_And we come to the end of this story. I hope everybody enjoyed it, and I want to thank everybody who gave reviews. There are far too many of you to name, so I apologize if I skip that this time. But maybe that means I'm getting better at writing if I have that many reviews per chapter. Naaah. :-)_

_I do want to give a shout-out to **BDaddyDL**. I've mentioned him several times already, but I bounced quite a few ideas off of his head, particularly in this last chapter, and he gave me quite a few ideas to work with. So big thanks to him._

_Enjoy the last chapter, and please review!_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego<br>July 23, 2011  
>6:45 AM PDT<strong>_

Sarah slowly opened her eyes in the bed. It was such a shame they were on a mission, as this was such a comfortable bed. She rolled on her side to pull Chuck to her, only her arm felt nothing but bedsheets. She propped herself up on her elbow and looked out at the balcony. Chuck was sitting outside looking at the ocean. She got out of the bed and pulled her robe over herself. She looked at the table to see Chuck thoughtfully brought up some pastries and coffee from the lobby café. She took the coffee Chuck left for her and walked out to the balcony. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss. He held her arms tightly around him but continued to look out at the ocean.

"Are you OK, sweetie?" Sarah said softly into his ear.

Chuck nodded, although he didn't smile. "I guess I'm just worried about today. There's so many ways this could go, and we don't have all the answers."

Sarah grabbed a chair and sat down behind him, her arms squeezing him even more tightly. "Perhaps, but we've been in tough spots before and we prevailed. And we have a lot of friends to help us this time."

"That's good. Without an Intersect, I'll need all the help I can get."

"Hey," Sarah sharply replied and turned Chuck's face to her. "If I want to hear someone question themselves, I'll call Jimmy. I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for you. What you did to save me when I fell sick from the Norseman…" Sarah drew his face to her and gave him a kiss. "You are a spy, Chuck. And an amazing one at that. And as much as I appreciate everybody being here to help us, the person I need here the most is you. I questioned you as a spy without the Intersect in the past. But I was wrong, and you proved me wrong long before I said it. And I am so sorry I thought that of you."

Chuck gazed into her eyes. Sarah was now the one holding doubt. He held her face in his hands. "I've questioned my abilities almost all of my life. But you always thought I was someone special, that I was destined for something great. You never thought of me as just an asset you had to protect. You were a friend, a confidant. Now I have more than I ever could have hoped. And you gave that to me."

Chuck took her hands. "That's why I always want to be with you. I love you. I always have, and I always will."

Sarah gently put her lips on his, kissing him with an emotion she never experienced before meeting the cute Nerd Herder four years ago. It was as if fate brought her to this moment. She spent most of her life as a guarded, private, angry woman. But the man in her arms changed her forever. The life, the friends, and the family she now had she never thought would have been possible. It was funny how Chuck always said she gave him so much. She thought she was just being herself. What he gave back to her was beyond measure.

"I love you, too," Sarah whispered as she gripped his face tightly and intensified her kiss. "I always will."

Sarah sat on Chuck's lap and continued to kiss him as they looked out at the Pacific Ocean from their balcony.

_**Horton Grand Hotel, San Diego**__**  
><strong>__**July 23, 2011**__**  
><strong>__**7:30 AM PDT**_

"Mmm, thanks," Carina replied as Alex handed her a large coffee from the hotel's café. She paused and looked at it. "Is it…"

"Hazelnut, two Splendas, yes," Alex replied with mild irritation as she sat down next to her. "I've had so many of these things driving into D.C. every morning, I think I have all of the abbreviations they use at Starbuck's memorized."

Carina arched her eyebrows. "Wow, you really need the caffeine today."

Alex took a healthy swig of her coffee, ignoring it was still piping hot. "Damn James, taking the night shift on tracking those phones. He really needs to work on his relationship skills. Doesn't he know women like having something to cuddle with at night?"

"Really? You're going with that, Agent Ice Box? The lady who tried to break up the most nauseatingly cute couple since Ross and Rachel?"

Alex exhaled in frustration. "Fine, I'm a hypocrite. Sue me. I guess it's been so long since I've been in love with someone, I'm getting greedy."

"Hey, I'd be greedy too if I got to shtup that every night. Not a lot of women get to play _Urban Cowboy_ with someone like Jimmy playing the mechanical bull."

Alex glared at her. "God, be more crass, why don't you."

Carina smirked. "I heard Jimmy tried out for the lead in _Boogie Nights,_ but he was overqualified."

"Enough," Alex growled as she shook her head, which was developing quite the migraine.

Carina gave a little laugh. "You really need to appreciate what you have now. You don't realize what a rare find Jimmy is."

Alex nodded. "And the craziest part is, he acts like HE won the lottery when he ran into me. It drives me up a wall when he does that."

"Well, look at it from his angle. He used to be nothing…less than that, in fact. Nobody ever gave him a chance, and he wasn't going anywhere. Suddenly he's a big deal in the Agency, he has friends when he didn't before, and you grabbed him in about five seconds when women used to never gave him the time of day. He was a broken, starving man, and you fed him a big steak. Who wouldn't appreciate someone doing that for them? It's like Florence Nightingale Syndrome…only, you know, with sex instead of medicine."

"But that's what I don't want. I don't want him putting me on some pedestal just because we've slept together."

Carina shook her head. "There's more to both of you than that. Everybody in the Agency knows your reputation. But very few people know why. You might be a hard-ass on the surface, but you're a good person underneath. Jimmy knows that, too. Think about it; you tossed him out of that hotel room in San Diego when you were drunk, and I was ready to violate him twenty different ways that night. I'm telling you, I wanted to rip his clothes off and ride his…"

"The elaboration is not necessary," Alex interrupted with considerable acidity.

"But he still wouldn't do it. He thought of you as so much more than just someone he was screwing."

Carina sat back in silence for a minute. "You were in love once; you know what it's like. It was probably difficult for you to take that big risk again because of what happened with John. But Jimmy was never in love and was never going to be before you came along. I don't know at what point he fell in love with you, but he has. The guy is crazy about you."

Alex gave a slight smile. " 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?"

"More or less," Carina replied with a smile.

Both of their smartphones beeped. "It's James," Alex said. "He has the information."

"Meet in 45 minutes?" Carina confirmed.

Alex nodded. "I guess it's time to earn our pay."

"Earned is right. Why did Chuck talk me into that damn costume? I feel ridiculous."

"Consider yourself lucky. I've got a bunch of thirteen-year-olds with severe acne problems following my every step."

Carina laughed as they walked towards the elevators. "Point taken. At least I can carry weapons with my getup. So, does Jimmy think you look hot in that Battlestar Galactica outfit?"

"Well, he did promise me a little something if I would wear it for the mission."

"What?"

Alex arched her eyebrows. "Wouldn't you like to know," she replied with a good imitation of Carina's traditional libidinous stare before turning on her heel and heading upstairs.

"Oh, don't leave me hanging like that," Carina pouted as she chased after Alex. "What did he promise? Does it involve his Conan costume? Did he agree to a threesome? Because I'd totally be the third person for you two!"

Alex went into the elevator, leaving Carina in lustful suspense.

_**San Diego Convention Center, Main Entrance  
>July 21, 2011<br>10:30 AM PDT**_

Everybody gathered to go over the plan for stopping Decker and keeping Jay and Brodie safe from harm. Morgan, not for the first time since Chuck originally downloaded the Intersect four years ago, was having difficulty balancing himself between being excited and being nervous. Being the lynchpin in the plan may have had something to do with it. To make it worse, he'd have to concentrate on the mission and not a reunion of the cast of one of his favorite shows: _Firefly_. He quickly discovered how inconvenient espionage could be.

"OK, Grimes," Casey said. "You stick to Roberts and Edwards. Sometime during the show, someone is going to switch merchandise bags with them. When they do, you give us the signal and make sure those two get out safely. Forrest, you back up Grimes. If there's trouble, you can be a diversion while he gets them out. Bartowski and I will pursue the bag man. Walker, you, Miller, and Slade be ready to back up Grimes and Forrest."

"What about Jay's parents?" Chuck asked.

"I called Beckman as soon as I got the news with the number she gave me," Jimmy replied. "I assume Decker doesn't have it tapped. She contacted the Nashville Police through the back channels. They have a plan in place, but they'll wait for our orders, just in case Decker has something up his sleeve. If they don't hear from us within two hours, they'll send a SWAT team in to get his parents."

"What about those watches?" Sarah asked.

"That's our first priority," Casey replied. "We get the detonator. Hopefully, only Hicks is carrying one. Once we secure it, we'll call in the bomb squad from the San Diego Police Department to help. But just to be safe, we get those two as far from the convention center as possible. In a crowd like this, Roberts and Edwards won't be the only ones killed if those things go off."

"Oh, man. This is getting complicated," Morgan replied. "What if Hicks has, like, a whole army there?"

"Just focus on your part, Morgan," Sarah replied. "Make sure you see the drop and let us know who took the data. After that, your only priority is getting Jay and Brodie out of there. You can do it."

"Yeah, yeah sure," Morgan answered, although Sarah's pep talk hardly made a dent.

"Any questions?" Casey asked to end the discussion. "Then let's get moving."

The group headed for Ballroom 20. Morgan and Alex waited in line for the panel to begin, Alex having put on a non-descript jacket and hat so nobody would mistake her for Tricia Helfer from a distance. Everybody else spread out through the area to not draw attention to themselves.

"What show is in there now?" Sarah asked as she walked with Chuck past the ballroom.

"Oh, I think it's that TV show where this dorky guy who works in a Radio Shack or something becomes some sort of superweapon and has this really beautiful woman from the government there to work with him. I can't remember exactly."

Sarah shrugged. "It doesn't sound like a very good show."

"Yeah, I know. Who would be dumb enough to watch some show about a geek and some hot girl crazy enough to fall in love with him? Like that would ever happen."

Sarah threw her hands up in surrender. "You got me."

Chuck suddenly stopped. "Uh-oh."

Sarah looked in the same direction and had the same reaction when she saw Ellie and Devon walking down the hallway.

"Chuck, I've been trying to call you since we woke up," Ellie said with a slightly accusatory tone.

Sarah looked quickly around and gently prodded Chuck, Ellie, and Devon to an alcove away from everybody.

"Remember I told you we were on a mission, Ellie?" Chuck asked, to which Ellie nodded. "Well, it's going down right now."

"Oh," Ellie replied, regretting her tone a moment ago. "Sorry, Chuck. I didn't realize it."

"Anything we can do to help?" Devon asked.

Sarah shook her head. "We have the place well-covered. If you want, you can walk through the hallways and keep your eyes open. If you see anything suspicious, call one of us. But don't come charging in. We don't want you trying to do anything heroic."

Ellie looked at Devon in his Superman costume and then glanced at her own Wonder Woman attire. "That is a very ironic thing to tell us, Sarah," Ellie said with a smile.

Chuck laughed. "You get the idea, though. But thanks for offering to help."

"Hey, like we said, we got your back, bro," Devon replied as he pulled up to his full height and stuck out his chest. "Truth, justice, and the American way?"

Chuck shook his head. "I am never living this down."

Ellie and Devon headed down the hallway. Chuck turned to Sarah. "Ready?"

Sarah nodded and took off her coat to reveal her Princess Leia outfit. She handed her coat to Chuck and smiled. "Still, Chuck?"

Chuck shook off his deer-in-the-headlights expression at seeing Sarah in her costume. "Sorry, I'm just…I will never be able to stop looking at you like that. You are beautiful beyond words."

She gave him a kiss on his cheek. "If you think this is sexy, wait 'til you see what I wear for you tonight," she whispered hotly into his ear, ending it by sucking his earlobe into her mouth.

She sauntered down the hallway. Chuck needed a moment to collect himself.

"Discipline, 007. Discipline," Chuck muttered to himself while imitating Sean Connery.

* * *

><p>Jimmy Slade kept an eye open through the halls as Morgan and Alex filed into Ballroom 20. He looked to his right to see someone sitting on the floor across from the entrance to the ballroom. He noticed a ticket in the young man's hand for the Firefly panel, but he was making no effort whatsoever to go in.<p>

"Hey, everything OK?" Jimmy asked him. "You let that ticket go to waste, and you'll have a lot of your sci-fi brethren pissed at you for wasting such a hot commodity.

The young man looked up slowly. "I asked this…this girl out on a date…and she rejected me."

"Oh, that sucks. Sorry, man," Jimmy replied. Jimmy started heading down the hall.

"I mean, what does she want?" the young man called out, prompting Jimmy to turn back to him. "How can I be a loser for liking sci-fi? You see guys obsessed with sports, and she's OK with that. I know guys who spend all day talking about _Jersey Shore_, but they still get some. What's wrong with me?"

Jimmy stood there in silence. The man glared at him. "Don't you have an answer?"

Jimmy got a bit flustered. "Well…well, I don't like to tell people how to run…"

"How do you do it? How do you get girls to go for you? You must be fighting them off if you look like that, right?"

"OK. Uh, well…let's start with how you look. Is that how you normally dress?" Jimmy asked him.

"What's wrong with it?"

"You're in a t-shirt and torn pants, and you're wearing sandals. I mean, that's fine if you're just bumming around on the weekends, but you don't go out to clubs or restaurants like that, do you?"

The man looked down. Jimmy felt pains of sympathy for him. "What's your name?"

"Larry."

"Larry, let me show you something."

Jimmy took out his mobile phone. He scrolled to a picture and showed it to Larry.

"No way!" Larry exclaimed. "That's you?"

"Two years ago," Jimmy replied. "I weighed about 400 pounds. But I exercised, I dieted, and I took better care of myself. Most importantly, I worked to keep a positive outlook on life. Someone helped me once, and this is the best way to thank them for what they did for me."

"What are you talking about?" someone in the hallway dressed in a similar manner to Larry asked.

"Dude, this guy was, like, a huge fat-ass two years ago!" Larry's melancholy did a complete 180. "But now he's totally ripped!"

"Whoah, ixnay on the at-ass-fay," Jimmy replied in irritation. "Losing the weight was only half the battle."

"What do you mean?" the second man asked as a couple of more people gathered around.

"Well, the important thing is to make yourself a complete individual. Be well-read, well-groomed, and very respectful, especially of women."

"You're saying wear suits all the time like that guy on _How I Met Your Mother_?" Larry asked.

"Not necessarily. Just don't look like you rolled out of bed and threw on the first thing you saw. It's like the ZZ Top song says, every girl's crazy about a sharp-dressed man."

Larry was confused. "Who's ZZ Top?"

Jimmy groaned and developed a serious case of facepalm.

* * *

><p>"Anything yet, Grimes? Have you flashed at all?"<p>

Alex sat several rows behind and across from Morgan, Jay, and Brodie. She had a clear view of the aisle and the merchandise bag that contained the data.

"Nothing," Morgan whispered.

"OK, keep them peeled. Got it?" Alex got no reply. "Grimes? Grimes, more attention on the audience, less on Summer Glau."

Morgan shook his head clear. "Sorry, sorry."

Morgan went back to scanning the audience. He looked to the back of the crowd to see someone fidgeting in their chair. He stood and slowly walked up the aisle in a crouch to not be in anybody's way.

"We may have a winner, Alex. He's coming up the left side."

Alex spotted the man cross through the middle of the crowd. "OK, I have him spotted."

* * *

><p>Sarah made another pass down the hallway near Ballroom 20. She checked in with Carina a few moments ago for an update, but Carina had come up empty as well. She turned down the hallway with a bit of frustration. Casey was right: patience in a situation like this was not one of her best talents. She was itching to catch Decker in the act and get Jay and Brodie out of harm's way. She thought about the look on Chuck's face when she told him she had an even sexier outfit she planned to wear later tonight. She didn't plan it before arriving in San Diego, but she remembered what Chuck told her about working every day to keep the relationship strong. Even though Chuck would always tell her how beautiful and amazing she was, there was still a small part of her that wanted to do whatever she could to keep him happy. She always listened to him, she worked on being more open with him, and she even managed to learn who some of the <em>X-Men<em> were. It was a work in progress, but she kept at it. Even though she knew they wouldn't end up like her parents, she didn't want to chance it by taking Chuck for granted.

She quietly mused about how lucky she was in life, letting her guard down for a couple of seconds. Unfortunately, they were the wrong few seconds. Someone hit her from behind, and she staggered forward, her earpiece falling out in the process. Before she could get her bearings, two sets of hands grabbed her and threw her into an unoccupied office.

"You're dead, bitch."

* * *

><p>"Thank you again."<p>

Ellie gave the young man a smile as he handed her $50 for taking a picture with him. She put the money in her small purse and waited patiently for Devon to finish taking a picture with two women in _Aeon Flux_ outfits.

"OK, even _**I**_ know Superman never met anybody like that in his life," Ellie said with mild annoyance.

"Babe, big picture. We are raking in the bucks here. Think of it like all those fundraising dinners we have to attend for the hospital. Only…it's like a costume ball. During the day. And it's a bit too early to drink."

Ellie smiled. "Well, at least I have my gorgeous husband with me. And I have to admit, he does look good as the Man of Steel."

"Very sweet of you, my love," Devon said as he gave Ellie a little kiss. "And you are totally stunning as an Amazon."

Ellie wiggled her eyebrows. "Mmm, I might have to see if this lasso really does make you tell the truth later on."

Devon laughed as they extracted themselves from the crowd and continued walking around the convention. He frowned at what he saw up ahead.

"Someone should move that partition out of the way," he said as they approached it. "People can walk right into this thing."

He grabbed the end of the mobile partition and started to move it. He then saw something was behind the curtain. He frowned and pulled the partition away.

"Whoah, totally not awesome!"

He ran behind the partition with Ellie right on his heels. A half-dozen large men were lying on the floor and not moving.

"What is going on?" Ellie said as the worry began to build in her. Both of them checked the men for their pulses.

"Unconscious," Devon said quickly as he turned one of them over. "They're a bit warm, and their skin is a little tingly."

"They were tasered," Ellie concluded.

Devon quickly looked around. "You're right. These look like security personnel, but none of them have their ID badges."

"Which means somebody is posing as security right now."

Devon pulled out his mobile phone. "We better call Chuck." He tried dialing Chuck's number. "Straight to voicemail."

Ellie tried a few numbers. "Sarah's does, too. And Morgan's phone keeps ringing with no answer."

"Casey isn't picking up, either. We better find them, and fast."

"Let's go," Ellie commanded. They ran down the hall and started looking around for someone they'd recognize.

* * *

><p>Morgan and Alex cautiously observed the man make his way quietly through the aisles. He turned the corner and headed up the middle aisle. He pulled a merchandise bag out from behind his back. It perfectly matched the one on the floor next to Jay. Morgan and Alex tensed as the man 'accidentally' dropped the merchandise bag next to Jay's chair. Morgan watched carefully as the man picked up Jay's bag and sneaked down the aisle, making a turn and going through the seats towards the exits.<p>

"Bartowski, Casey, they made the drop," Alex reported. Man in his mid-30s, 6'1", black, curly hair, wearing a white Oxford shirt and a suede vest over it."

Morgan observed several men walk into the ballroom, all of whom were wearing security personnel attire. He started flashing on each of them.

"Casey, Hicks is here. He must be ready to take them out," Alex said as she got up.

"Uh, and that's not all," Morgan added in a panic. "I just flashed on a bunch of security guards. All ex-NSA assassins!"

"Grimes, Forrest, get Roberts and Edwards out of there. Everybody else, move in now!" Casey replied.

Bartowski ran to the entrance to the ballroom as Casey approached the doors. Suddenly, the doors burst open, and the man who stole the data ran down the hallway.

"Go get him, Bartowski," Casey ordered as he charged into the ballroom. Chuck took off after the man.

* * *

><p>Jimmy was getting nervous, as they were in the middle of a mission, but the crowd in front of him wouldn't stop asking questions about how he lost the weight and changed his looks. He kept taking furtive glances towards the hallway that would lead him back to Ballroom 20.<p>

"Look, it takes time and effort, but you can do it. I worked hard to take the weight off, but now I have to work to keep it off. Everything in moderation, that's the key," Jimmy said as he felt like he was suddenly turning into Tony Robbins.

"Everything?" someone asked from the crowd.

"Everything. Show of hands, how many of you play videogames more than five hours a week?" Everybody raised their hands. "Ten? Twenty?" Most of the hands remained up. "Oh, boy. OK, that's a huge amount of your week right there. If you take away sleep time, that's almost a fifth of it. You have to cut it down. Same thing with being online."

"But…we chat with people online," someone meekly responded.

Jimmy exhaled and scrolled to another picture. "Well, I chat with these people quite a bit. And I do it face-to-face." Jimmy showed the picture, and the crowd gasped.

"Oh, my God! You know Hot Leia?"

"Absolutely. We've been friends for a few years now."

"Have you seen her naked?" someone shouted.

"No," Jimmy angrily replied. "Get your minds out of the gutter. We work at the same company where they hire us to do conventions and parties like this dressed like movie or TV characters. That's her husband standing next to her. He owns a consulting company, and they're two of the nicest people in the world." Jimmy paused and smiled to himself. "In fact, if it wasn't for them encouraging me, I wouldn't look like this now."

Jimmy smugly scrolled to another picture and showed the crowd. "THAT is my girlfriend."

The crowd let out an even bigger gasp than before. "You're sleeping with Tricia Helfer!"

Jimmy growled loudly enough to startle everyone. "That is NOT Tricia Helfer! I would think all of you know Tricia's been happily married since 2003! This is Alex, and she's wonderful, and we're totally in love."

"Man, what a lucky bastard," someone grumbled.

Jimmy exhaled. "OK, maybe I got lucky on some counts. But my friends and my girlfriend would say the same thing. I went out there and earned it. I worked hard, I kept trying to have confidence in myself, and things started falling my way. That's all it takes, guys. It's that simple."

"Grimes, Forrest, get Roberts and Edwards out of there. Everybody else, move in, now!" Jimmy heard Casey's voice over his earpiece, and his eyes widened.

"Guys, I have to get going. OK, just…have faith in yourself, work hard at it, and don't be afraid to get out there and explore the world. Life's not meant to be lived with a keyboard and a mouse."

Jimmy ran down the hallway towards Ballroom 20.

* * *

><p>Sarah straightened up and got her bearings. She couldn't believe what she saw in front of her.<p>

There were a half-dozen women with nasty looks plastered on their faces. All of them were wearing Princess Leia slave costumes.

"What are you doing?" Sarah demanded.

"You cost us a lot of money this weekend," one of them snarled. "All of these losers kept saying 'Where's the hot Leia? Where's the hot Leia?' This is our gravy train for the year! You think we get this much action in New York? Or Vegas? Or Chicago?"

"Look, I didn't mean for that to happen," Sarah replied in an attempt to remain calm. "You can have the money if you want it. I wasn't even here to make money this weekend. My boyfriend likes to see me in this."

One of the Leia's took out a knife. "Oh, we'll be taking that money. But first let's see if your boyfriend likes to see you all cut up."

Sarah's eyes narrowed. "You really don't want to do that. Put that away before this gets out of control."

The Leia with the knife stuck her weapon under Sarah's chin as the other five moved in. "Oh, it already has."

Sarah growled and grabbed the woman's wrist, twisting it as she landed a knee to the woman's midsection. She staggered back, but Sarah pulled the woman towards her and landed a hook right on her chin. She dropped the knife as the other Leia's attacked. Sarah elbowed one back and landed a kick to the face of another. She threw a jab at a third one. However, the largest of the Leia's landed a shot to the back of Sarah's head from behind. She staggered forward but managed to right herself and sent a roundhouse kick at that woman. Another Leia grabbed an LCD monitor off of a desk and smashed Sarah in the face. Sarah was temporarily dazed, giving two of the Leia's enough time to pin her arms back.

The Leia who brandished the knife got in her face. "Now we're really going to mess you up."

The door to the office burst open. Carina stepped in brandishing one of her shotguns.

"Party's over, ladies."

The Leia with the knife scoffed. "That thing is just a prop."

Carina cocked it. "Care to roll the dice, bitch?"

The Leia with the knife thought about it for a moment before lowering her weapon.

"Come on, Sarah. They need us," Carina said in a solemn voice as she held up Sarah's missing earpiece. Sarah joined Carina at the door.

"This isn't over," the Leia with the knife growled.

Sarah pulled the two knives out of Carina's belt, spun around, and threw them at Leia. The knives pinned Leia's long pigtails to the wall.

"Yes it is," Sarah quietly replied as she exited. Carina turned back to the other Leia's.

"By the way, Sarah Connor would totally wipe the floor with all of you."

She smiled as she departed, leaving all of the Leia's in shock.

* * *

><p>Morgan and Alex watched as the security guards made their way towards Jay and Brodie.<p>

"Jay, Jay," Morgan whispered as he tapped Jay on the shoulder. "Remember me?"

Jay turned and his eyes widened. "You're that Hobbit guy we saw yesterday. What are you doing here?" he whispered.

"You just made the drop, right? Well, they're coming to get you."

Brodie looked around. "The security people?"

"Dude, they're not security. Trust me, it's time to go."

Jay and Brodie quietly stood up as Casey slipped into the back of the room and moved in their direction. Morgan and Alex followed Jay and Brodie as they made their way to the exit.

Hicks was there to block their path.

"I'm afraid you're not going anywhere, gentlemen," Hicks said with an evil look as he waved the remote detonator to the explosives.

Casey dove at Hicks and knocked him down. Jay and Brodie ran in the other direction as Casey landed a punch on Hicks. Casey landed two more shots, but Hicks was unfazed. He looked up at the man who knocked him down.

"John Casey, I never would have guessed," Hicks said. "I guess I'll have to take some of these losers out, too. Not like they had lives anyway."

Hicks thrust his palm up, striking Casey in the nose and knocking Casey off of him. He got up and scrambled for the remote. Casey tackled him from behind again, and the remote skittered across the floor.

"Get them out of here!" Casey yelled to Morgan and Alex.

Morgan froze momentarily before he grabbed Jay and Brodie and shoved them towards the rear exit. Alex ran with them as the remaining security guards closed in. The guards tried to flank them and stop them from reaching the back exit as the entire crowd watched.

The rear doors of the ballroom opened to reveal Jimmy with his sword drawn.

"Go ahead, make my day," Jimmy said in a threatening voice as the guards closed in on them.

One of the guards looked at him in disbelief. "Wrong badass, moron," he growled as he tried to throw a punch at Jimmy. Jimmy blocked it with his sword, and the main cried out in pain as he discovered the hard way Jimmy's sword was real. Jimmy knocked him out with a brutal hook.

"Get them out, Alex," Jimmy ordered as he swung his sword around to keep the remaining guards at bay. Alex corralled Jay and Brodie and led them out of the ballroom.

* * *

><p>Chuck sprinted down the hallway of the convention center as he tried to close the gap with the man who took the data. He glanced at an overhead sign. The man was attempting to escape through the vendor area. He banked the corner and crashed into a couple of convention-goers.<p>

"Sorry! Sorry," he said quickly as he untangled himself from them and took off again. He ran by Devon and Ellie, who did a double-take before chasing Chuck down the hall.

"Chuck! There were some guards unconscious in the hallway!" Ellie shouted. "I think something bad is about to happen!"

"Already has!" Chuck shouted over his shoulder as he entered the vendor area. He frantically looked around for the man.

Devon and Ellie caught up to him. "Chuck, what is going on?" Ellie yelled from the adrenaline.

"I'm looking for someone, 6'1", black curly hair, wearing a white shirt with a suede vest," Chuck breathlessly replied.

"Here, we'll spread out," Devon suggested.

Chuck normally would have argued with Devon and Ellie about getting involved, but there wasn't time. "OK, go."

Chuck, Ellie, and Devon fanned out to find the man with the data.

* * *

><p>Casey got on top of Hicks and landed punch after punch to his head. Hicks kicked his foot off and connected with the back of Casey's head. Casey fell off of him again. Hicks got up and ran for the remote. Casey tacked him against the table set up on the dais, making the cast of <em>Firefly<em> scatter.

"Slade, go find Forrest!"

Jimmy stood at the back attempting to fend off a half-dozen security guards from pursuing Jay and Brodie. "I'm a little busy right now!"

"GO! You know the most about those watches. If anybody can defuse them, it's you."

"Go, Jimmy," Morgan prodded. "I'll handle this."

Jimmy gave him a bizarre look. "YOU'LL handle this?" Suddenly it clicked in. 'Oh, right."

He put his sword back in his scabbard and patted Morgan on his shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll be back."

Jimmy's face then contorted in disgust. "Oh, I did NOT just say that!"

Casey tried to grab the remote from Hicks' hand. Hicks kicked him back, and Casey attempted to attack him again.

He was tackled to the ground by Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin.

"What are you doing?" Casey shouted. I work for the goddamn NSA!"

"Yeah, right pal," Fillion retorted as Baldwin and he held Casey down. "Someone call security!"

Casey struggled against them. "Let me up!"

Hicks dusted himself off and stood over Casey with the remote. "Sorry, Casey. Like always, you're a day late and a dollar short."

A kick landed across Hicks' face, and he fell off the dais. Sarah leaped down from the table and grabbed the remote.

"It's Hot Leia!" someone shouted from the audience, which drew a roar from the crowd. Hicks tried to get up with a growl. Carina cocked her shotgun and aimed it at his face.

"Bhijoi, asshole," Carina sneered.

Sarah turned to Casey. "Let him go!" she ordered Fillion and Baldwin. They were too shocked to disobey. They backed away from Casey, who pulled out his ID.

"NSA," Casey growled, still a bit upset from Fillion and Baldwin stopping him. "For your own safety, all of you should go."

The Firefly cast started filing towards the door.

"Hey, I'm really sorry about that," Adam Baldwin said humbly. "We thought you were some nutjob."

Casey gave a dismissive wave. "Eh, you didn't know. But hey, love your work with the NRA. You should run for Chairman. You'd be a shot in the arm for their lobbyists in D.C. They could use it."

Baldwin smiled. "Yeah, tell me about it. I really miss the Reagan years."

Casey nodded. "You and me both."

* * *

><p>Jimmy sprinted down the hallways of the convention center looking for Alex, Jay, and Brodie.<p>

"Alex!"

Alex, Jay, and Brodie were about to go out an emergency exit facing the ocean.

"Did Casey get the remote?" Alex asked in a rush.

"He's trying to. But it can't be all bad."

"What makes you say that?"

Jimmy pointed to Jay and Brodie. "They're still alive, right?"

"Whoah!" Jay shouted. "They're trying to kill us right now?"

"We have to get you out of here. Those things go off in here, you might take a bunch of people with you."

Alex pushed them through the emergency exit. "How do you get these things off?"

"I have no clue! I couldn't find anything online! It's not like I'm MacGyver or Michael Westen! I can't come up with something…"

Jimmy froze in his tracks. "Son of a bitch. Why didn't I think of that?"

"WHAT?" Alex demanded.

"Get them as close to the water as you can and away from the boats. I need to get a couple of items."

Jimmy ran back into the convention center. Alex led Jay and Brodie outside. They ran down to an opening in the fence and ran down a pier to the water. All three of them stood nervously and waited for Jimmy to return. Two minutes later, Jimmy sprinted down the pier to them.

"I thought you said there was no way to defuse these," Alex said.

"There isn't. But maybe I can delay them enough to get the watches away from all of us. Jay, Brodie, hold the watches towards me."

Jay and Brodie put their arms out towards Jimmy, who grabbed them and turned them so their arms were pointed towards the ocean. Jimmy wrapped their arms and hands with the towels he brought to the pier with him. He covered every part of their arms except for the watches.

Alex picked up the can Jimmy put on the ground. "Compressed air?"

"If you hold it upright," Jimmy replied as he took the can and inserted the directional straw. "But turn it upside-down, and you can freeze whatever you want."

Alex caught on. "Giving you a couple of seconds to break the watches off and throw them in the water."

"Exactly," Jimmy replied as he started spraying the watches. Jay and Brodie winced from the coolant getting on their wrists. "Sorry about that."

"Wait, this is like what they did in _Lethal Weapon 2_ when they froze the bomb on Murtaugh's toilet," Brodie said nervously.

Jimmy paused. "Oh, that's where I got this from." He finished spraying the watches. "Alex, get behind them." Alex got behind Jay and Brodie as Jimmy took the towels off their arms and readied himself to grab the watches. "OK, I'm going to break these off and toss them in the water. When I do, pull them down to the deck. Everybody ready?"

Alex got a hold of Jay and Brodie. All three of them nodded.

"OK, on three," Jimmy said. "One…two…"

"Wait," Alex said. "Do we go on three, or…"

"Never mind!" Jimmy wrenched the watches off of Jay and Brodie. Alex fell to the ground with Jay and Brodie in her arms as Jimmy whirled and threw the watches towards the water like a discus throw. He dropped to the ground as the watches exploded.

Jimmy slowly sat up and looked at Alex, Jay, and Brodie, who were also trying to sit up. The four looked at each other.

"I'm too old for this shit," they said at the same time.

* * *

><p>Morgan watched Jimmy depart and turned to see the guards closing in on him.<p>

"Come on, do the flashy thing," he said to himself. "Do the flashy thing."

The first guard was about to throw a punch. Suddenly, Morgan's Intersect activated, flooding his mind with various instructions.

His eyes snapped open, and he smiled. "Everybody's kung-fu fighting."

Morgan thrust a palm strike at the guard closet to him, sending him to the ground. He spun and landed a roundhouse kick on a second guard. Two other guards grabbed his arms. He pushed off of them to land kicks to the two guards in front of him. He then snapped his head back to knock one guard off of him while he kicked at the other. He sent that one down with a hard jab before leaping through the air and doing a perfect backflip over the guard behind him. That guard turned to face him but only got a boot to the face as a result. The guard he knocked down tried to come at him, but Morgan kicked a chair in front of him up into the man's face. The final guard rushed him. Morgan spun in the air and executed a flying roundhouse kick to take the guard out.

Sarah, Casey, and Carina slowly approached Morgan, shocked by what they saw from him.

Morgan turned to them. "How was that?"

Casey did a slow exhale. "OK. You have permission to marry my daughter."

* * *

><p>Chuck, Ellie, and Devon covered every square inch of the vendors' area at the convention but still couldn't find the man who stole the data.<p>

Ellie approached Chuck with her hands raised. "I can't find him."

Chuck turned in the other direction to see Devon approach him. "Did you see him?"

"Sorry, bro," Devon quietly replied. "I lost him."

Chuck exhaled in frustration and scanned the booths again. The man who stole the data peeked out from behind a video game display. He sprinted for the exit.

Chuck turned and spotted him. "There he is!" His head darted back and forth momentarily. Suddenly, Chuck pulled Devon's cape off and ran with it. He jumped onto the tables and crossed the room by leaping from table to table. He spread the cape out and dove for the man. He tackled the man, covering him with the cape as he landed on him. The man tried to get up, despite being blinded by the cape over his head. He took two steps forward and fell over a table back to the ground. Chuck jumped on top of him as Ellie and Devon arrived. He pinned the blinded man's hands behind his back.

"Ellie," Chuck motioned with his head towards Ellie's magic lasso.

"Huh? Oh, right," Ellie replied as she took the lasso off her belt and bound the man's hands with them. A dozen San Diego Police officers converged on their location. Chuck pulled the man up and handed him off to the police, who put handcuffs on him. Chuck retrieved the merchandise bag and verified the data was still in it.

"Your partners already told us you were pursuing this guy," the officer said as he gestured to the man in handcuffs. "This should make for good headlines tomorrow. Superman and Wonder Woman help capture a terrorist."

"It's funny, actually, because my nickname is Captain Awesome," Devon replied.

The officer looked at him with complete scorn. "Get a life, you nerd."

_**Toscana Café, San Diego  
>July 23, 2011<br>7:30 PM PDT**_

Everybody gathered at a table in the back of the café. Unlike yesterday, this was to celebrate a successful mission. Hicks and his men were taken into custody. Unfortunately, none of it could be traced back to Decker, and Hicks refused to roll over on him.

"Did you talk to your parents?" Chuck asked Jay.

"They're fine. They actually know the Chief of Police in Nashville. They go to the same church. He came over and took them out to lunch, and the Nashville Bomb Squad moved in while they were away. They still don't know they were in any danger."

"I'm sure you're glad to be heading back home," Sarah said.

Brodie nodded and held up a airline boarding pass. "Thanks for the flight back. After everything that's happened, I don't think I could handle driving. But how will I get my car back?"

"The NSA will take care of it," Casey replied. "You'll have it back in a few days."

"I tell you, that's the last time I ever do anything remotely questionable," Jay said. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"Hey, you were just pissed off about your job. Besides, it's not like you got anything important," Jimmy replied. "But here, this might help." He handed Jay a business card. "There's a computer company just outside of Knoxville that has a lot of government contracts. That's their personnel director. Give him a call and send him your resume." Jimmy looked at Jay's attire. "And wear a suit to the interview, huh?"

Jay nodded. "You got it. Thank you, everybody. You guys were amazing."

Jay and Brodie made their way to the taxi stand to get a ride to the airport. Everybody settled back in their chairs as they finished the last of the wine.

"Oh, sweet!" Morgan exclaimed.

"What?" Casey asked.

He turned the tablet computer to face everybody. "I'm on YouTube!"

Everybody looked at the video someone at Comic Con recorded of Morgan taking out the half-dozen guards.

"Now I really hate technology," Casey muttered. "Bearded troll's going to be talking about this for weeks.

Jimmy took a closer look. "Aaah, hell."

"What?"

"Oh, it gets worse, Case." Jimmy pointed to the title of the video. Casey read it.

"The Ninja Hobbit?" Casey looked like someone who would have welcomed an embolism right then and there. "Goddamn Internet," he growled.

"And on that note," Sarah said as she got up. "I'm heading back to the hotel."

Chuck got up, too. "Thanks, everybody. We couldn't have done this without all of you." Chuck put his arm around Sarah, took his drink, and raised it. "To the best partners and best friends a couple could have."

"Hear, hear," Sarah added as she kissed Chuck and raised her glass. Everybody smiled and clinked glasses with them. They finished their drinks and headed for the door.

"So…" Carina said conspiratorially to Alex as she walked up behind her. "What are you two going to do for the rest of the night?"

Alex turned to her with an innocent air. "We're going to have a nice, pleasant evening."

Carina huffed in frustration. "Oh, cut the shit, Forrest. You gotta tell me! What did Jimmy promise to do? I want to know!"

"Sorry," Alex said. "That's between us."

"Ooh, I know. You're going to tie him up, right? Do a little _Basic Instinct_ on him? You know, only you'll skip the ice pick?"

"Give it up, Carina. I'm not telling you."

"Come on, am I close? Are you going to tie him up?"

Alex grinned. "Mmmm, well…"

_**Horton Grand Hotel, San Diego**__**  
><strong>__**July 23, 2011**__**  
>9<strong>__**:00 PM PDT**_

"No backing out, James. Remember, you promised."

"I know, I know. It's just that these are kind of small."

"They're your size. How could they be small?"

Jimmy poked his head out of the bathroom. "Take one wild guess."

Alex licked her lips. "You might think that's a problem. Me? Not so much. Now get out here."

Jimmy emerged from the bedroom wearing the very tight leather briefs Alex brought. Her eyes lit up as he approached her in the bed with the whip.

"Are you sure about this?" Jimmy asked hesitantly.

"Hey, you already tied me up, and if you'll forgive the arrogance, this leather bustier should be turning you on."

"Oh, it is. Believe me."

Alex grinned. "OK, you're the dominant one here. All I can do is lie here all tied up. Get cracking."

Jimmy readied himself with the whip. He then paused and looked at it. "I'm gonna…whip it the other way for now, just in case. Is that…"

"Fine!" Alex shouted. "Just get started!"

Jimmy gave her a playful growl and cracked the whip. The whip hit the lamp at the opposite end of the room and shattered it. He turned back to Alex in wide-eyed shock.

Alex exhaled in frustration and shook her head. "OK, just use the rider's crop."

Jimmy shrugged and climbed into the bed. He grabbed the rider's crop and smacked Alex in the ass with it. She moaned in approval.

"I like it," Alex said.

Jimmy smiled. "If you're nice, I'll try for the triple crown tonight."

"What's that?"

He kissed her and ran his hands over her tight form. He then shrugged and smiled. "I'll think of something."

_**Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego  
>July 23, 2011<br>10:39 PM PDT**_

Chuck checked the clock for the tenth time in the last five minutes. Sarah had been in the bathroom for almost an hour.

"Sarah, what are you doing in there?"

"I told you, it's a surprise."

"Baby, you don't have to do anything, OK? Just come to bed."

"I just wanted to do something special for you."

"Uh, you married me two months ago. It doesn't get more special than that."

"Weren't you the one who said you work every single day to prove you love me?"

"Yes. I said that."

"So, what's wrong with me doing the same thing?"

"Because…your mere presence in my life is wonderful already?"

She opened the bathroom door, but Chuck still couldn't see her. "Nice try, sweetie."

She aimed a remote control at her iPod, and the music began to play. Sarah slowly slinked out of the bathroom and started walking towards Chuck, who was on the brink of hyperventilation.

"Wha…who…wha…"

Sarah raised a playful eyebrow as she slowly gyrated her hips in front of her husband, enjoying his eyes looking up and down her body.

"How did you know about this costume?" Chuck could barely talk at seeing Sarah covered from head to toe in green paint and wearing little else.

"Oh, you know," Sarah demurred as she ran her hands over Chuck's face and danced seductively mere inches from him. "I was home one day and decided to rummage through your DVD's. I saw your old _Star Trek_ discs and put one in. I guess it was the pilot episode? The one before William Shatner came on as Captain Kirk?"

Chuck was flabbergasted. "You saw the Orion slave girl?"

Sarah smiled as she ran the tip of her tongue across Chuck's lips. "I thought…you might like it."

"I MIGHT like it? Yeah, like a little kid MIGHT like a visit from Santa Claus!"

Sarah grinned and started unbuttoning Chuck's shirt. "I have to admit, I didn't get the dance completely down correctly. I think what I'm doing is more like a lap dance at a strip club."

"Like I really mind," Chuck said as he tried to breathe normally, but to no avail.

"There is one difference," Sarah purred into his ear as she undid his belt. "My policy is look…AND touch."

"That's…that's a good policy," Chuck stammered as he reached behind Sarah to unhook her top.

Sarah ripped Chuck's shirt off, pressed into him, and kissed him hard. They were swept up momentarily by an incredibly passionate kiss, their tongues teasing each other inside their joined mouths. Sarah reluctantly broke the kiss and looked at Chuck.

"Oopsie," she said. Chuck was confused until he looked down.

He had green paint over every part of him Sarah touched.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before breaking up in laughter. "I guess the paint needed to dry just a bit longer," Chuck said with a grin.

"That probably would have helped," Sarah replied trying to contain herself.

"Are we going to have trouble getting this off of us?"

"Oh, no. It's a water-based paint. I can go in the shower and wash it off of me." Sarah took a few steps towards the bathroom and turned seductively. "Or you can."

Chuck raised an eyebrow. "Is that an order, Captain?"

"Absolutely. And then we can clean you off. And afterwards…"

She reached for his hand and led him to the bathroom. Chuck couldn't help but grin.

"Make it so, Mr. Bartowski."


End file.
